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Proposed New Constitution 

of Illinois 


1922 


With Explanatory Notes and 
Address to the People 


For Submission to the People at a Special Election 
on Tuesday, December 12, 1922 


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ILLINOIS 

CONSTITUTIONAL 

CONVENTION 


1920-1922 


[Printed by authority of the State of Illinois] 






ILLINOIS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 

1920-1922 




Charles E. Woodward, President 
B. H. McCann, Secretary 


FOREWORD 


This pamphlet contains the complete text of the proposed new 
constitution of Illinois, which is to be submitted to a vote of the people 
at a special election on Tuesday, December 12, 1922. 

In the right hand column opposite each section will be found notes 
indicating the changes, if any, which that section makes in the present 
constitution. Preceding the text of the constitution is the address of 
the convention to the people of Illinois. 

This proposed new constitution was framed in response to the 
will of the people of Illinois, expressed at the election on November 5, 
1918, when the proposal to call a convention to draft a new constitution 
was adopted by a majority of 399,806. The delegates were elected 
November 4, 1919, and the convention met January 6, 1920. 

The constitutional convention completed its work September 12, 
1922. 


Additional copies of this pamphlet may 
be secured by writing to Henry I. Green, 
Chairman, Committee on Submission and 
Address, Flatiron Building, Urbana, Ill. 


library of coNGaeST"! 

"^CEiVEr* 

APR 25192 i / 

DOCOMENTi I 




TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Page 

Address to the People. 5 

Proposed New Constitution of Illinois. 21 

Preamble. 21 

Bill of Rights (Article I). 21 

Powers and Form of Government (Article II). 24 

Legislative Department (Article III). 24 

Executive Department (Article IV). 33 

Judicial Department (Article V). 36 

Suffrage and Elections (Article VI). 45 

Revenue and Finance (Article VII). 46 

Local Governments (Article VIII). 51 

Public Servants (Article IX). 59 

Education (Article X). 61 

Militia (Article XI). 62 

r 

Warehouses and Common Carriers (Article XII). 62 

Canals and Waterways (Article XIII). 64 

Amendments to the Constitution (Article XIV). 64 


Schedule 


66 






















Address to the People 

of the 

State of Illinois 


Adopted by the Constitutional Convention, September 12, 1922 


To the People of Illinois: 

Changed conditions and increasing knowledge demand from time to 
time adjustments in the mechanism of government. 

In 1869 the people of this state, already dissatisfied with the con¬ 
stitution adopted only twenty-one years earlier, elected a convention to 
recommend a new constitution. These men wrought well and in the 
following year their work was approved at the polls. For fifty-two 
years, under the charter then adopted, Illinois has lived and prospered. 

As new conditions and increased experience had before dictated 
change, so in 1918 the people, again persuaded that revision w r as re¬ 
quired, voted for the calling of a constitutional convention and in the 
following year elected one hundred and two delegates charged with the 
duty of consulting together and of reporting back to those who had 
elected them. The men of this convention came from every part of 
the state and from many different w r alks in life. On almost every 
important question there developed among them wide differences in 
opinions, opinions often tenaciously held and only reluctantly yielded. 
Now after many months of labor and many other months of recess, 
during which differences have lessened and heat has cooled, there has 
come practical unanimity among the delegates and they join in recom¬ 
mending to the people of Illinois a constitution as it has been hammered 
out in their deliberations. 

It is not to be pretended that the instrument is perfect, or even 
that it represents all the hopes and wishes of any one man or of any 
group of men. It is, as was the Federal Constitution and as all such 
measures must be, the result of compromise. No voter should ap¬ 
proach its consideration with the mind to compare it with his ideal, for 
this is to condemn it in advance. Nor should it be an objection that 
some desired provision is not found within its pages, unless that provi¬ 
sion is in the old instrument. The real and only question presented to 
the people of Illinois is: Is this proposed new constitution, framed by 
your representatives, better than the constitution under which you 
now live? 




6 


This question must be put and answered in view of the welfare of 
the whole state and all her population. So, too, it must be put and 
answered in the knowledge that a constitution is not, and does not 
pretend to be, a statutory code. It is the function of a constitution 
only to provide for the form of government, to define the powers and 
duties of the principal agencies of that government, and to put such 
limitations upon the powers of the government itself as experience has 
shown are necessary to the preservation of liberty. Under our system, 
the legislature has all power not denied to it or expressly given to other 
agencies and so, to the legislature must be left the working out of the 
details of law. When the legislature makes a mistake, it can be speedily 
and easily remedied, while mistakes in the constitution are much more 
difficult of cure. For these reasons the convention has wisely confined 
itself to matters thought to be fundamental, and left to the general 
assembly the wide and fruitful field of legislation. In weighing the 
merits of the constitution now offered, these considerations should be 
borne in mind. 

In order that the voters may intelligently anwver the one question 
which must be answered by their ballots: Does the proposed new 
constitution, on the whole and in view of the needs of all of the people 
of the whole state, promise better governmental conditions than the 
present constitution? we who have worked these many months to 
improve our government, here set forth in brief the principal changes 
which will be effected and our reasons for believing that they are 
desirable. 

Revenue 

It was the growing belief, finally ripening into deep seated convic¬ 
tion, that the existing taxation system is defective, which principally 
prompted the calling of the constitutional convention. Since the 
foundation of the state, the constitution has required that all; property 
should be taxed at a uniform rate. This was an admirable system in 
the early days and as long as the community remained homogeneous, 
with little diversity in property rights and with small accumulations of 
intangible property. It is the experience, however, of all governments - 
that as population increases and society becomes more complex, the 
uniform property tax becomes less and less efficient as a means of raising 
revenue, and more and more inequitable in its distribution of burdens 
upon the people. As long as most men are of nearly equal wealth and 
all property consists either of land or personal property of large bulk 
that cannot be easily concealed, the uniform property tax is both fair 
and efficient, but as the forms of property multiply and especially as 
intangible property increases both in amount and in diversity of kind, 
the uniform property tax becomes less and less adapted to the needs of 
society. The farm or lot and the houses thereon cannot escape the 
assessor. So too it is difficult for live stock to be concealed. But 
diamonds are not paraded on the day when the assessor appears and 
notes, mortgages, bank balances, bonds and shares of stock are still 
more fugitive. Because some conceal the property which is easily 
hidden and so escape taxation, it becomes necessary to raise the rate 


7 


upon the property which remains visible. The increased rate adds to 
the temptation to conceal, with the result that still more property 
disappears from the tax lists and this again results in a higher rate. 
This interplay of increasing rate and disappearing personal property 
has resulted in inordinately high rates of taxation upon those forms of 
property which cannot be concealed, namely, real estate, and tangible 
personal property. The result has been that the rate of taxation has 
reached a point where it is recognized by all, even the taxing authorities 
themselves, that if taxes be levied, as contemplated by law, upon intangi¬ 
ble property, a large proportion and, in some instances, all, of the income 
derived therefrom would be confiscated by the state. The result of this 
has been that there has grown up in some parts of the state a system of 
taxation wholly outside the law. Assessors and taxing authorities 
generally do not expect the owners of intangible property to report all 
of their holdings, as the law theoretically requires, but have adopted an 
extra-legal method and seek to make some fair approximation of the 
relative wealth of the individual taxpayer as compared with his neigh¬ 
bor’s and assess him accordingly. Any system of taxation which practi¬ 
cally forces the taxing authorities to adopt a system of their own, one 
not contemplated by law, is as vicious as can be because, in effect, it 
vests in the taxing authorities an unrestrained discretion to discriminate 
among the taxpayers and reward their friends and punish their enemies. 
What was therefore originally an admirable system of taxation and still 
appears theoretically fair has become the means of gross injustice and 
the potential source of shocking corruption. 

The experience of all civilized states in which society has become 
complex has persuaded students of the subject that only through a 
diversified system of taxation can revenue in adequate amounts for the 
needs of the State be raised with a fair distribution of the burden of 
taxation. In a self-governing community, every citizen must bear his 
share of the responsibility of government. Whatever the system of 
taxation may be, every man, woman and child in the community pays 
some tax, whether or not they know it. The tax upon the tenement 
house is recouped by the owner from his tenants and the tax upon the 
store building is repaid to the owner by his tenant who must make out 
of his sales of goods enough to compensate him for the additional rent 
paid and so the tax upon the store building is eventually paid by those 
who buy the shopkeeper’s goods. The citizen, however, who thus pays 
his tax indirectly is ordinarily not aware that he pays a tax and is there¬ 
fore not vigilant in watching and checking the expenditures of govern¬ 
ment. The man who pays a tax directly is at once informed of his 
interests in the expenses of government and his cooperation is promptly 
enlisted in restraining unnecessary and extravagant expenditure. It is 
estimated that out of the more than three million people in the county 
of Cook, less than one hundred and fifty thousand directly pay any 
personal property tax and there are only about three hundred thousand 
who pay taxes upon real property. The total number of direct tax¬ 
payers in Cook county probably does not exceed three hundred and 
fifty thousand. Of course, each one of the more than three million 
people pays taxes indirectly. A system which permits nine-tenths of 




8 


the people to vote taxes paid directly by one-tenth is an encouragement 
to thriftless government and does not serve to impress upon the individ¬ 
ual citizen the responsibilities which must be felt by every citizen if 
self-government is to endure. 

It is not the function of a constitution to prescribe the details of 
taxation. This must rest with the legislative department of the govern¬ 
ment. With all the experience of the human race it must be confessed 
that there is no recognized science of taxation. No one can tell in 
advance just what will be the result of a given tax measure either in its 
capacity to raise revenue or in its capacity equally to distribute burdens. 
All that the constitution can do is to put those limitations upon the 
power of the general assembly which will preclude the more glaring 
inequalities and remove from the legislators the temptation to favor one 
class as against another. 

The present constitution limits the power of the legislature practi¬ 
cally to providing for only one kind of tax. It is important to enlarge 
the power of the legislature to diversify taxes so that instead of the 
revenue being all raised by taxes upon real estate and the more obvious 
forms of personal property, the burden shall be more equitably distrib¬ 
uted and the number of those who shall consciously pay taxes shall be 
recruited from the number of those who, under the present system, pay 
taxes only unconsciously. 

In several states, of recent years, an attempt to accomplish this end 
has been made by permitting the legislature to classify property, impos¬ 
ing different rates of taxation upon different classes of property. These 
laws are still in the experimental stage and it was thought by the con¬ 
vention not wise to permit experiments along these lines which might 
easily tend towards discrimination in favor of one class of taxpayer as 
against another. 

The income tax, as a measure for raising revenue, distributing the 
burden of taxation more equitably and relieving real estate and tangible 
personal property, is no longer in the field of experiment. Income tax 
laws are upon the statute books of more than a dozen states and the 
reoorts from those states indicate that they have been successful in 
raising revenue in an equitable manner without disturbing business 
conditions or causing economic distress. Among the states where 
income tax laws are in successful operation are New York, Massachu¬ 
setts and Wisconsin. Realizing that the gross inequality in our present 
system of taxation arises from the ease with which intangible property 
escapes, we have provided that in lieu of tax by value upon this class of 
property, the general assembly may, if it sees fit, tax the income 
derived from such property, but that if such a tax shall be imposed, it 
must be substantial and at a uniform rate. In other words, it may not 
be graduated or progressive. 

Realizing too the success with which general income taxes have 
operated in all of the states in which they have been tried, we have 
also framed the new constitution so that the general assembly may, 
if it sees fit, impose a general income tax upon all incomes from whatever 
source derived. This tax may be graduated and progressive but in 
order to protect against gross inequality, especially in view of the heavy 


9 


federal income taxes, it is provided that the highest rate shall not 
exceed three times the lowest rate. And in order that the legislature 
may provide a workable system of income taxes without pressing too 
hard upon those who are at the margin of subsistence, it is provided 
that from the general income tax there may be exempted income derived 
from personal service of not to exceed $1,000 for the head of a family, 
plus $200 for each dependent child under the age of sixteen years, and 
not to exceed $500 for any other person. This it was thought would 
provide for reasonable exemptions and yet would make the income tax 
so. widely distributed as to remove the temptation which otherwise 
might be present to raise the rates to a point that might be disastrous to 
the industry of the state. 

If a general income tax is imposed household furniture and the 
implements of agriculture and labor may be exempted from taxes and, 
in order to avoid the injustice of double taxation, such deductions may 
be made as will compensate for taxes paid by valuation on the property 
from which the taxed income is derived. By these provisions it is hoped 
that the way has been opened to such taxes upon incomes as shall give 
all citizens the opportunity of contributing to the support of their state 
such reasonable amount as they can well afford and as good citizens 
they will be glad to pay. 

The new constitution still provides, as did the old, that property, if 
taxed, shall all be taxed at the same rate, but it is hoped that by opening 
the door to the legislature for the enactment of a reasonable income tax 
law, a considerable part of the state’s revenue may be so raised, with a 
consequent relief of the burden now resting upon real property and the 
more obvious kinds of personal property. By increasing the kinds of 
taxation, it is, of-course, not expected to increase the amount of revenue 
to be raised. The amount of revenue depends upon appropriations and 
the more people there are who consciously pay their taxes, the more 
there will be who will exercise a restraint upon the legislature and local 
taxing bodies in making appropriations. It is, therefore, to be expected 
that if the new constitution is adopted, an opportunity wall be afforded 
to the legislature more equitably to distribute the burdens of taxation 
and that there will at the same time be added a restraining influence 
upon extravagance. 

The Bill of Rights 

For the most part, the bill of rights has been allowed to remain as 
in the old constitution but there are a few changes which experience has 
proved are desirable. Under the existing constitution, a defendant 
charged with felony cannot waive a jury and submit his cause to a judge. 
Experience in other states has proved that there is no reason why a 
defendant, if he be so minded, may not waive a jury in cases other than 
capital, and permit himself to be tried by a judge. Accordingly, the 
new constitution so permits. 

Heretofore, no one could be held to answer for a felony except upon 
indictment by the grand jury. In communities where grand juries are 
held only at intervals of several months, one arrested who cannot give 
bail is kept in jail awaiting the action of the grand jury. This has 


10 


frequently resulted in injustices to the innocent. In the larger commu¬ 
nities there are many instances of crime where the proof is clear. In 
these cases it is a great waste of machinery to require first a preliminary 
hearing and then an indictment and then a trial before a petit jury and 
yet, under the existing constitution, there is no method by which the 
grand jury hearing can be avoided. Under the proposed constitution, 
all felonies, save capital cases, may be prosecuted upon either indictment 
or information filed by either the attorney general or the state’s 
attorney, but no such information shall be filed by the state’s attorney 
until after leave granted by the court upon a showing of probable cause. 
These changes will certainly result in simplifying criminal procedure and 
expediting prosecutions without the sacrifice of protection to the inno¬ 
cent. 

The new constitution permits the general assembly to make 
women eligible as jurors. It also permits the general assembly to 
provide for juries of less than twelve in civil causes. This should result 
in saving much expense and bring great relief to citizens by diminishing 
the amount of jury service required and no reason is perceived why 
litigants should not be as well satisfied with the verdicts of smaller juries 
as they have been with those of juries of twelve. 

One of the defects existing under the present constitution, especially 
in the larger cities, is in the operation of that section which requires that 
every defendant “except for capital offenses where the proof is evident 
or the presumption great” shall be admitted to bail. Under this sec¬ 
tion, old seasoned offenders readily obtain bail and are turned out upon 
the streets to renew their depredations while awaiting trial. Under the 
new constitution, the provision with reference to bail is the same as 
that in the Federal Constitution that “excessive bail shall not be 
required.” It will therefore be within the sound discretion of the judge 
to whom application for bail is made whether the accused shall be allow¬ 
ed his freedom pending trial. It is to be expected that this discretion 
will be exercised favorably in the cases of first offenders, but that bail 
will be denied to those whose past history indicates how their time will 
be employed if they are not confined. This change was advocated by 
the judges and lawyers most experienced in the handling of criminals 
and should add much to the security of the honest citizen. 

Until a few years ago, it was generally supposed that under the 
existing constitution, there was nothing to prevent reading in the public 
school of passages from the Bible and in those communities where public 
opinion approved this course, the reading of the Bible was customary. 
A few years ago, however, the supreme court, by a majority opinion, 
held that the constitution of 1870 forbids the reading of the Bible in the 
schools. The convention, though zealous to maintain the American 
doctrine of the separation of church and state, was convinced that an over¬ 
whelming preponderance of public opinion in the state demands that in 
those communities where public opinion approves, passages of the Bible 
may be read without comment and without discrimination in favor of 
one version of the scriptures over another and, accordingly, it is provided 
in the proposed constitution that the reading of selections from any 




11 


version of the Old and New Testaments in the public schools without 
comment shall not be in conflict with the constitution. 

Representation in the General Assembly 

By the constitution of 1870, provision was made for so-called 
minority representation in the general assembly. It was hoped by 
the framers of that constitution that this provision would secure to the 
minority party in each senatorial district a chance of being represented, 
with the result that the general assembly would more fairly represent 
the political sentiment of the state. Unfortunately, in practical oper¬ 
ation, all of the anticipated benefits have not materialized. Too fre¬ 
quently, by combinations between parties, so few candidates have been 
nominated that the electors have been practically without choice, with 
the result that many men have been sent to the general assembly who 
have not been qualified for the duties of their office. The experience of 
the past has consequently indicated the necessity for change and the 
new constitution therefore does not provide for minority representation. 

When the constitution of 1870 was adopted, the population of Cook 
county was less than 350,000 people, out of a total of more than two and 
one-half million for the whole state. By the census of 1920, the popu¬ 
lation of Cook county is over three million and fifty thousand out of a 
total of 6,485,000 for the whole state. In fifty years, therefore, the 
population of Cook county has grown from less than 14% to more 
than 47% of the total population of the state. Because they have 
believed that so large an aggregation of people in one comparatively 
small area could, and under stress of circumstances would, act as a 
political unit and so control the destinies of the whole state, the people 
of other counties have for some years been growing in the conviction 
that the representation of Cook county in the general assembly should 
be in some measure limited and that this large body of consolidated 
power should not be allowed through its votes in the general assembly 
to control the more scattered inhabitants of the state. So strong has 
this feeling been that, though the constitution required the state to be 
reapportioned after each decennial census, there has been no change 
since the apportionment based on the census of 1900. There were many 
of the delegates from parts of the state outside of Cook county who 
insisted that the representation of the people of Cook county in the 
general assembly should be limited in both the senate and the house, 
while delegates from Cook county, as a unit, opposed such a provision. 
After many weeks of debate and negotiation, a compromise was finally 
effected. Heretofore, the state has been divided into fifty-one senato¬ 
rial districts, each of which elected one senator and three representatives. 
It is now proposed to increase the senatorial districts to fifty-seven, of 
which nineteen shall be in the county of Cook and thirty-eight in the 
rest of the state and that so long as the proposed constitution shall 
remain in effect, Cook county shall be limited to nineteen out of fifty- 
seven members of the senate. The state is also to be divided into one 
hundred and fifty-three representative districts in accordance with the 
numbers of electors, each district to elect one member of the house. 


12 


The result of this is that Cook county is definitely limited to nineteen 
out of fifty-seven members of the senate but will have the same propor¬ 
tionate representation in the house, based upon the number of voters, 
which other parts of the state have. With two-thirds of the senate 
composed of representatives of downstate, Cook county could never 
force through legislation which was inimical to the interests of that part 
of the state outside of the county of Cook. On the other hand, as the 
people of Cook county will have their proportionate representation in 
the lower house, it is improbable that the people outside of Cook 
county will ever be able to force upon the people of that county legisla¬ 
tion plainly inimical to their interests. Thus if there should arise a 
conflict of interest between the people of Cook county and the people 
of the rest of the state each will be protected against the other. In the 
adjustment recommended the convention has followed the precedents 
set by other states. In every state in which a large proportion of the 
population resides in one political subdivision some limitation is im¬ 
posed upon the representation in the legislature of that area. In order 
to avoid a continuance or repetition of the neglect of the general 
assembly to reapportion the state periodically as ordered by the con¬ 
stitution it is provided that if the general assembly shall fail to make 
any apportionment it shall be the duty of the secretary of state, the 
attorney general and the auditor of public accounts to make the 
apportionment within ninety days after the adjournment of the regular 
session of the year designated for that purpose. 

The Judiciary 

Notable changes are suggested in the organization and operation 
of the courts. Although more than one-half of the people of the state 
live, and more than one-half of the litigation which goes to the supreme 
court originates, in the seventh judicial district?, which includes Cook 
county, under the present constitution that district elects only one 
member of the supreme court and the rest of the state, containing less 
than half of the population and furnishing less than one-half of the 
court’s business, elects six of the justices. It is proposed that this shall 
be changed so that the court shall consist of nine justices, three to be 
elected from the seventh district, of whom not more than two shall 
come from the same county. The supreme court has for years been 
overburdened with the number of cases it has had to pass upon and an 
increase in the number of justices should lighten the burden of each 
member of the court, and expedite its work. 

Under the previous constitutions it has been the custom for the 
legislature to pass laws prescribing the practice, pleading and procedure 
of courts. This has long been recognized as of doubtful value. While 
the practice has perhaps not been inadequate in the less thickly settled 
communities, it has not lent itself to the expeditious dispatch of business 
in the larger cities and the result has been that the courts have been 
clogged and litigants have been sometimes so delayed in securing their 
rights that the delay has amounted to a denial of justice. Under the 
proposed constitution, the supreme court will have the power to pre- 


13 


scribe the rules of pleading, practice and procedure and with its expe¬ 
rience, passing, as it must, daily upon the records of the trials made in 
the lower courts, it should be best able to judge of the changes that can 
advantageously be made for the speedy and sure administration of 
justice. 

Indeed it is arguable that the making of laws by the general 
assembly regulating the practice in courts is an invasion of the power 
of the courts and violative of the constitutional division of governmental 
powers into the three divisions of executive, legislative and judicial. 
It would seem doubtful if, consistently with this doctrine, the legislature 
can have more power or right to prescribe how the courts should function 
than the courts have to dictate how the legislature shall proceed about 
its business. An independent judiciary is the strongest bulwark of the 
individual’s liberty. 

No citizen can tell when the day may come when his all may depend 
upon the proper functioning of the courts and no citizen therefore can 
afford to be indifferent to the methods by which justice is administered 
between man and man. Indeed, it may be said that.the primary pur¬ 
pose of all government is the administration of justice. It is confidently 
believed that by vesting in the courts themselves, especially the supreme 
court, the duty and right to prescribe how they shall function, a great 
advance will be made in securing to every citizen what the constitution 
has always said he was entitled to: “Every person ought to find a 
certain remedy in the laws for all injuries and wrongs which he may 
receive in his person, property or reputation; he ought to obtain, by law, 
right and justice freely and without being obliged to purchase it, com¬ 
pletely and without denial, promptly and without delay.” Protection 
against possible abuse of power by the supreme court in making its 
rules is afforded by a provision which permits the general assembly to 
set aside by special law any rule of pleading, practice or procedure. 

Long since it was found to be impossible for the supreme court to 
review the decisions in all of the. cases in which appeals were prayed 
from the lower courts and the legislature therefore created four appel¬ 
late courts to which the judges have been appointed by the supreme 
court, being chosen from the members of the circuit court. In later 
years, it has developed that frequently the judges can be spared for 
work in the appellate court only at great inconvenience to litigants in 
the circuit courts whose business is delayed by the additional duties 
imposed upon the circuit court judges. Under the new constitution 
the judges of the appellate courts will not be judges of the circuit courts. 
The existing law properly recognizes that the duty of reviewing the 
decisions of the lower courts rests primarily upon the justices of the 
supreme court, to be discharged either directly bv themselves or through 
the appellate courts appointed by them, but it has been a mistake to 
require that the judges of the appellate courts should be selected only 
from the circuit court judges. Accordingly, the new constitution 
proposes that the members of the appellate courts may be selected by 
the supreme court without any restriction except that they must be 
resident within the district for which appointed, and as all judges of the 
supreme, appellate and circuit courts must be at least thirty-five 


14 


years of age and licensed to practice law in this state for at least ten 
years. It is the belief of the delegates to the convention, many of 
whom are lawyers of large experience, that these provisions should both 
increase the usefulness of the appellate courts and bring needed relief 
to the circuit courts. 

There will be no more probate courts but there will be a county 
court in each county with one judge and an additional judge for each 
50,000 of population over the first 50,000. The county courts will 
have all the jurisdiction heretofore vested in probate courts and con¬ 
current jurisdiction with the circuit courts of testamentary trusts, 
construction of wills and partition of real estate where any such pro¬ 
ceeding is incidental to their original jurisdiction, exclusive jurisdiction of 
appeals from justices of the peace and such other jurisdiction as may be 
provided by law. The county court will sit at the county seat and 
also in such other cities in the county as may provide suitable facilities 
for holding court. 

The principal ground of criticism of justices of the peace and con¬ 
stables has been found in the fee system. They will no longer be com¬ 
pensated by fees but are to receive salaries from their respective towns 
or districts, to be fixed by the county board, and any town or district 
may, by a majority vote of the electors, abolish or restore both justices 
of the peace and constables. 

Circuit courts as heretofore will sit at the countv seats, and if anv 
city of more than 5,000 population maintains suitable facilities for 
holding court, the circuit court may also sit there. City courts are 
abolished. 

The circuit, superior, criminal, county and probate courts of 
Cook county, the municipal court of Chicago, and the city court of 
Chicago Heights are all consolidated into one circuit court, with a civil 
and a criminal division. The supreme court will assign the judges of 
the circuit court of Cook county to the different divisions and designate 
a chief justice of each of the divisions. The supreme court may 
authorize the chief justices of the two divisions jointly with the advice 
and consent of the judges of the circuit court to appoint assistants who 
shall have such judicial and other powers as the supreme court may 
prescribe. 

Recognizing that the vesting of all jurisdiction in one court is in 
some measure experimental, we have provided that after five years from 
the adoption of the new constitution, the general assembly may divide 
the circuit into two courts subject to a referendum to the voters of 
Cook county. By those who have made the most careful study of the 
workings of the courts in many jurisdictions, it is confidently believed 
that by vesting all of the judicial business of a large community like 
Cook county in one court, there will be a great saving of expense and 
energy and that the people’s business before the courts will be transacted 
with greater dispatch and economy. 

Executive Department 

The principal change suggested in the executive department is 
that a treasurer shall be elected every four instead of every two years 


15 




and shall be ineligible for re-election for four instead of two years. The 
required age of the governor and lieutenant governor is increased 
from thirty to thirty-five years. There is also a provision requiring 
each officer of the executive department and the chief officer of each 
public institution to make a sworn semi-annual report to the governor 
of all moneys received or disbursed and also, at least ten days before the 
beginning of the regular session of the general assembly, to report the 
condition of his office to the governor who shall transmit the reports to 
the general assembly. 

The state treasurer is required, as part of each semi-annual report, 
to show the daily balances of state funds in every bank and to accom¬ 
pany his report with a sworn statement of an executive officer in charge 
of each bank, showing the payment of interest and other compensation 
made and to be made by reason of such deposit. The effect of this 
should be to insure that the state shall receive the benefit of all interest 
earned upon its deposits. 

The state auditor is also required to prescribe and supervise a 
uniform system of accounts for all county officers. This should give an 
added guarantee of the efficiency and honesty of county officers. 

Counties 

The form of government of counties may be changed by law uni¬ 
form as to class of counties, but such change shall become effective in a 
county only after approval by a majority of those voting on the question. 
This is a highly important provision relieving from the rigidity of con¬ 
stitutional mandate the government of the county and giving to the 
people of each county a fair measure of self determination. The sheriff 
is to be allowed to succeed himself, as he may not under present law. 
Each county (other than Cook) -is to have an assessor, which should 
produce within the county an equality of taxation not now accomplished. 

Legislative Department 

Some provisions regulating the procedure of the general assembly 
which have been dictated by experience are incorporated in the new 
constitution. For instance, when the two houses have failed to agree 
on an appropriation bill and it has been referred to a conference com¬ 
mittee, there has been opportunity to insert in the conference com¬ 
mittee’s report items of appropriation not discussed in either house and 
to secure the passage of the conference committee’s report during the 
closing hours of the session. In this procedure there has been abundant 
room for ill-considered and unwise appropriations. Accordingly, it is 
provided in the proposed new constitution that no subject matter shall 
be considered in any conference committee report on an appropriation 
bill unless such matter directly relates to matters of difference between 
the two houses and has been specially referred to the conference com¬ 
mittee, nor shall the report of the conference committee be acted upon 
until it shall have been printed and put upon the desks of the members 
at least three legislative days before it is considered. This will furnish 
an added and highly desirable protection against unwise appropriations. 


16 




It is further provided that no general law shall take effect until 
sixty days after the adjournment of the session at which it was enacted. 
Under the existing constitution, laws take effect upon July 1 after the 
adjournment. The time intervening between adjournment and July 1 
is commonly too short for any publicity, so that the people of the state 
are frequently subject to obey laws of which they have never heard and 
of which there are no ready means of acquiring information. 

The legislature is to be permitted to pass laws for lending money 
upon farm lands in the state but only on approval of a majority of the 
voters at a general election. Such loans shall be amortized in not to 
exceed thirty-three years and must be'secured by first mortgage made 
by those who own, occupy, and cultivate the land. In making loans, 
reasonable preferences are to be given to persons honorably discharged 
from the armed forces of the United States. Under this provision it is 
believed that the general assembly may, if it thinks wise, institute a 
system of aid and encouragement to the tillage of the soil by owners 
rather than by tenants. 

The general assembly also may authorize cities, villages and in¬ 
corporated towns to adopt reasonable regulations governing the use and 
appearance of land and the location, appearance, size and use of struc¬ 
tures, and to divide territory into zones to each of which special regula¬ 
tions may be applied. This is the so-called zoning provision and is 
intended to give to cities and villages the power to regulate buildings in 
such a way as to produce a more harmonious and logical development. 
Experimentation with this system in cities in other states gives good 
reason to believe that desirable results will follow and that, on the whole, 
values of real property will so be conserved. 

Chicago Home Rule 

Among the most troublesome questions which of late years have 
come before the general assembly have been those which have peculiarly 
affected the city of Chicago. A large part of the time and thought of 
the state’s legislators has been consumed in the consideration of prob¬ 
lems peculiar to one comparatively small locality. In the nature of 
things, men do not give that same, careful consideration to questions 
which do not concern them or their constituents which they give to 
questions in .which they or their constituents are directly interested. 
The convention was therefore persuaded that it v^s wise to remove 
from the field of the general assembly’s activities and to vest in the 
authorities of the. city of Chicago, just so far as possible, all questions 
which affect the city and do not affect the rest of the state. According¬ 
ly, it is provided that, subject to the right of veto in the general assem¬ 
bly, Chicago is to possess, for all municipal purposes, full and complete 
power of local government and corporate action, but may not impose 
taxes or borrow money except as authorized by the general assembly 
or by the constitution itself. The city may calf an elective convention 
to. frame a new charter, but the work of the convention must be sub¬ 
mitted to the voters of the city for adoption. The charter so framed 
shall prevail over state laws so far as the organization of the city govern- 


17 


ment, the distribution of power and the tenure and compensation of its 
officers and employees are concerned. 

Subject to regulation by general law, the city may acquire, con¬ 
struct, operate, sell, pledge, lease or let public utilities or buy or sell the 
service thereof. The consent of the city is required to the creation, 
enlargement or consolidation of any municipal corporation (except the 
county) exercising taxing powers within the city. If the city adopts a 
charter, it may provide for the consolidation with the city of any or all 
local governments or other authorities, in whole or in part, exercising 
powers confined to the city limits. The charter may also provide for a 
consolidation with the city of the Sanitary District of Chicago, but the 
city shall not exercise any taxing powers outside of its own limits. 

In addition to any other indebtedness permitted, the city may, after 
approval by the voters at a referendum election, issue bonds for the 
purpose of acquiring, leasing, constructing or operating income-produc¬ 
ing properties for supplying transportation or water, but before the 
issuance of any such bonds the city must provide for the collection of a 
direct annual tax sufficient to pay the interest on the bonds and the 
principal thereof, within forty years. After the city shall have issued 
bonds for such purpose, at least four months before any tax levied for the 
payment of principal and interest of the bonds becomes collectible, the 
city must deposit with the city treasurer out of the gross earnings of the 
utility a sum equal in amount to such tax, which shall be used for the 
payment of the principal and interest and to the extent that such funds 
are so deposited, the tax shall not be collected. The city is further 
required, if it shall have acquired utilities pursuant to this section, to 
maintain such rates for service as will be sufficient to pay the principal 
and interest of the bonds issued for its acquisition and the cost and 
expense involved in or incidental to the ownership, operation and main¬ 
tenance thereof. Any taxpayer shall have the right to apply to the 
circuit court of Cook county to enforce these obligations. 

The purpose of these provisions, as may be clearly seen, is to permit 
the city of Chicago, if a majority of its citizens so desire, to acquire and 
operate transportation and water systems, but only on condition that 
such rates shall be charged as shall make the utility so acquired self- 
supporting. In other words, the city may not acquire a transportation 
system and furnish to its patrons service at less than cost and compel 
the citizens generally to bear the deficit through general taxation. The 
plan, it is believed, offers a sound and safe method by which the people 
of Chicago may, if they desire it, construct any system of transportation 
or acquire any traction properties, and operate, them.or lease them for 
private operation, as they may elect, without imposing upon the tax¬ 
payers of the city the burden of paying for properties which have been 
unwisely bought or unsuccessfully operated. 

Other Revisions 

Among the other changes which will be effected are these: (1) In 
Cook county supervision of elections will not after 1925 rest with the 
county judge, but will be subject to some elective officer or officers. It 
is not consistent with the true functions of a judge that he should be 


18 


burdened with the administration of the necessarily complicated election 
machinery. (2) Public money cannot be paid to sectarian institutions 
when public institutions are available and when it is paid it shall not 
exceed the cost of maintaining during their terms of commitment, 
neglected, defective, dependent or delinquent persons committed by 
courts to agencies under public inspection. There is always danger in 
permitting public money to be paid to private institutions and this 
section would seem adequately to protect both the wards of the state 
and the taxpayer. (3) Frequent elections are one of the burdens of 
citizenship, especially when polling places are far from residences. 
Accordingly, it is provided that outside of the county of Cook all elec¬ 
tions are to be held on one day in November. In the even years state 
and federal officers will be elected and in the odd years county and 
local officers. 

A frequent complaint against the existing constitution has been 
its rigidity, the difficulty of amending it. It is of the nature of a con¬ 
stitution that it should have a degree of permanence. It is not intended 
to voice transient opinions but to express the considered convictions of 
the people upon fundamental questions. It should not, therefore, be 
the subject of whim or caprice. On the other hand a constitution is but 
the product of human beings, prone to err. There must, therefore, be 
some method by which it can be corrected without too great effort, nor 
should a small minority be allowed long to block the way of a determined 
and continuing majority to amend their form of government. The 
objections to the amending clauses of the present constitution are justi¬ 
fied and we have accordingly relaxed the provision by allowing amend¬ 
ments to be proposed by the general assembly to two articles, instead 
of only one, at the same session, and have changed the prohibition upon 
proposing an amendment to the same article oftener than once in four 
years so as to make it apply only to a section instead of an article. If a 
convention shall be called to recommend a revision of the constitution 
it will be composed, as under the present constitution, of two delegates 
from each senatorial district, but to compensate for the limited number 
of districts in Cook county there shall be elected from that county seven 
members at large. 

These are the principal changes effected by the proposed new con¬ 
stitution. There are, of course, other alterations, but they are of less 
moment and it is impracticable here to detail them. The whole con¬ 
stitution has been re-written and greatly improved in phrasing and 
arrangement. Although covering several subjects not dealt with in the 
constitution of 1870, it contains about fifteen hundred fewer words 
than that instrument. 

Conclusion 

The highest and noblest political activity of a self-governing people 
is the adoption of a constitution. History affords no nobler conception 
of government than that which contemplates self-respecting and 
intelligent human beings deliberately considering and voluntarily 
adopting rules which shall be binding upon themselves, and to which 
they shall first owe obedience. 


19 


The people of Illinois are now called upon for the first time in fifty- 
two years to enter upon this serious undertaking. The delegates to the 
convention have constituted but a committee to consider the changes 
that may to them seem desirable, and to recommend such changes to 
the ultimate sovereign, the people. With the people must rest the 
responsibility. We, of the convention, have spent many months of 
patient labor upon this work. By the committees to which were first 
referred the proposals, all citizens who desired to be heard were given 
opportunity to express their views. Infinite pains have been taken to 
ascertain the sentiments of the people of the state and like pains have 
been taken to express these sentiments in formal rules of law. 

To our fellow citizens of the State of Illinois, by whom we were 
selected to perform the important task of formulating a constitution, 
and to whom we have never failed to recognize our responsibility, we 
now submit the results of our labor, confident that the people in their 
wisdom will duly weigh the advantages of the offered constitution as 
compared with that under which we now live and will by their ballots 
render a just and wise decision. 

On December 12, 1922, the election will be held to determine 
whether our judgment of the welfare of the state shall be approved. 
On that date every man and woman who loves his or her state should 
glory to discharge the highest political duty of free men and free women 
and register their opinions at the polls. 


Done in convention at the capitol in the city of Springfield on the 
twelfth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand nine 
hundred twenty-two. 

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names. 

Charles E. Woodward 

President 

B. H. McCann 

Secretary 



n 


Proposed New Constitution 

of Illinois 

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES 


Preamble 

We, the people of the State f Illinois, 
grateful to Almighty God for the civil, 
political and religious liberties which He 
hath so long permitted us to enjoy and 
looking to Him for a blessing upon our 
endeavors to secure and transmit them 
unimpaired to succeeding generations, in 
order to form a more perfect government, 
establish justice, insure domestic tran¬ 
quillity, provide for the common defense, 
promote the general welfare and secure 
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this 
constitution. 

ARTICLE I 
Bill of Rights 

Section 1 . All men are by nature free 
and independent and have certain inherent 
and inalienable rights; among these are 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
To secure these rights and the p otection 
of property, governments are instituted 
among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed. A fre¬ 
quent recurrence to the fundamental 
principles of civil government is necessary 
to preserve the blessings of liberty. 

Section 2. No person shall be deprived 
of life, liberty or property without due 
P'ocess of law. 

Section 3. The free exercise and enjoy¬ 
ment of religious profession and worship 
without discrimination shall forever be 
guaranteed. No person shall be denied 
any civil or political right, privilege or 
capacity on account of his religious opin¬ 
ions. The liberty of conscience hereby 
secured shall not be construed to dispense 
with oaths or affirmations, excuse acts of 
licentiousness or justify practices incon¬ 
sistent with the peace or safety of the 


No change is made in the subject matter 
of the Preamble to the constitution of 
1870. 


Secs. 1 and 20 of Art. II of the constitu¬ 
tion of 1870 are combined as one section. 


This section is in the exact language of 
Sec. 2, Art. II, constitution of 1870. 

This section is the same as Sec. 3, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870, with a sentence 
added, p-oviding that: 

The reading of selections from any 
version of the Old and New Testaments 
in the public schools without comment 
shall neve- be held to be in conflict with 
this constitution. 


21 










22 


state. No person shall be required to 
attend or support any ministry or place of 
worship against his consent, nor shall any 
preference be given by law to any religious 
denomination or mode of worship. The 
reading of selections from any version of 
the Old and New Testaments in the public 
schools without comment shall never be 
held to be in conflict with this constitu¬ 
tion. 


Section 4. Every person may freely 
speak, write or publish on any subject but 
is responsible for the abuse of this liberty. 
In trials for libel, civil or criminal, the 
truth when published with good motives 
and for justifiable ends is a sufficient 
defense. 

Section 5. The right of trial by jury 
shall remain inviolate but may be waived 
except in capital cases. The general 
assembly may provide that women may 
be eligible to serve as jurors. Juries of 
less than twelve in civil cases may be 
authorized by law. 

Section 6. The right of the people to be 
secure in their persons, houses, papers and 
effects against unreasonable searches and 
seizures shall not be violated. No war¬ 
rant shall issue without probable cause, 
supported by affidavit particularly de¬ 
scribing the place to be searched and the 
persons or things to be seized. 

Section 7. Excessive bail shall not be 
required. The privilege of the writ of 
habeas corpus shall not be suspended 
unless in case of rebellion or invasion the 
public safety may require it. 


Section 8. No person shall be held to 
answer for a capital offense unless on 
indictment of a grand jury. Offenses 
which may be punished by imprisonment 
in the penitentiary may be prosecuted by 
indictment or on information filed by the 
attorney general or by a state’s attorney. 
No such information shall be filed by a 
state’s attorney except by leave granted, 
either in term time or in vacation, by a 
judge of a court of record having jurisdic¬ 
tion of the offense, after a showing of 
probable cause. All other offenses may 
be prosecuted as provided by law. This 
section shall not apply to cases of impeach¬ 
ment, cases arising in the army and navy 


This section is the same as Sec. 4, Art. 
II, of the constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 5, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870, which provides: 
The right of trial by jury, as hereto¬ 
fore enjoyed, shall remain inviolate; but 
the trial of civil cases before justices of 
the peace, by a jury of less than twelve 
men, may be authorized by law. 

This is Sec. 6, Art. II, constitution of 
1870, without change. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 7, Art. 

II, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

All persons shall be bailable, by 
sufficient sureties, except for capital 
offenses where the proof is evident or 
the presumption great; and the privi¬ 
lege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
not be suspended, unless when in cases 
of rebellion or invasion the public 
safety may require it. 

This section is a revision of Sec. 8, Art. 

II, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

No person shall be held to answer for 
a criminal offense, unless on indictment 
of a grand jury, except in cases in which 
the punishment is by fine, or imprison¬ 
ment otherwise than in the penitentiary, 
in cases of impeachment, and in cases 
arising in the army and navy, or in the 
militia, when in actual service in time of 
war or public danger: Provided, that 
the grand jury may be abolished by law 
in all cases. 








23 


and in the militia when in actual service in 
time of war or public danger. 

Section 9. In all criminal prosecutions 
the accused shall have the right to appear 
and defend in person and by counsel; to 
demand the nature and cause of the accu¬ 
sation and to have a copy thereof; to 
meet the witnesses face to face; to have 
process to compel the attendance of wit¬ 
nesses in his behalf; and to have a speedy 
public trial by an impartial jury of the 
county or district in which' the offense is 
alleged to have been committed. 

. Section 10. No person shall be com¬ 
pelled in any criminal case to give evidence 
against himself or be put in jeopardy 
twice for the same offense. 

Section 11 . All penalties shall be pro¬ 
portioned to the nature of the offense. 
No conviction shall work corruption of 
blood or forfeiture of estate. No person 
shall be transported out of the state for 
any offense committed therein. 

Section 12. No person may be im¬ 
prisoned for debt except upon refusal to 
deliver up his estate for his creditors as 
prescribed by law or in case of strong pre¬ 
sumption of fraud. 

Section 13. Private property shall not 
be taken or damaged for public use with¬ 
out just compensation which, when not 
made by the state, shall be ascertained by 
a jury. 

Section 14. No ex post facto law or 
law impairing the obligation of contracts 
or making any irrevocable grant or special 
privileges or immunities shall be passed. 

Section 15. The military shall be in 
strict subordination to the civil power. 
No soldier in time of peace shall be quar¬ 
tered on a householder without his con¬ 
sent or in time of war except as provided 
by law. 

Section 16. The people have the right 
to assemble in a peaceable manner to 
consult for the common good, to make 
known their opinions to their representa¬ 
tives and to apply for redress of grievances. 

Section 17. All elections shall be free 
and equal. 

Section 18. Every person ought to find 
a certain remedy in the law for all injuries 
and wrongs which he may receive in his 


This section is the same as Sec. 9, Art. 
II, of the constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 10, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 11, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 12, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as the first 
sentence of Sec. 13, Art. II, constitution 
of 1870. The last sentence of Sec. 13, 
Art. II, constitution of 1870, is Sec. 226 of 
the new constitution. 

This section is the same as Sec. 14, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870. 


This section combines Secs. 15 and 
16, Art. II, constitution of 1870. No 
change is made in Sec. 15, but Sec. 16 is 
revised to require the consent of the occu¬ 
pant of a house, the word “householder” 
being substituted for the word “owner.” 

This section is the same as Sec. 17, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 18, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870. 

This section is the same as Sec. 19, Art. 
II, constitution of 1870. 













24 


person, property or reputation. He ought 
to obtain right and justice by law, freely, 
without being obliged to purchase it, 
completely and without denial, promptly 
and without delay. 

Section 19. Laws shall be applicable 
alike to all citizens without regard to race 
or color. 

ARTICLE II 

Powers and Form of Government 

Section 20. The legislative, executive 
and judicial departments shall be separate 
and no one of them shall exercise powe s 
properly belonging to another. 

Section 21. The republican form of 
government of this state shall never be 
abandoned, modified or impaired. 

ARTICLE III 

Legislative Department 

Section 22. The legislative power shall 
be vested in a general assembly consisting 
of a senate and a house of representatives. 

Section 23. The general assembly at 
the regular sessions in nineteen hundred 
twenty-three, nineteen hundred thirty- 
three and every twelve years therea'ter 
shall apportion the state into fifty-seven 
senatorial districts each of which shall 
elect one senator and into one hundred 
fifty-three representative districts each of 
which shall elect one representative. r \ he 
basis of apportionment for both houses 
shall be the number voting for governor at 
the last regular election for that office 
previous to the apportionment. Every 
district shall be formed of compact and 
contiguous territory and shall be bounded 
by county lines except in counties com¬ 
prising two or more districts when such 
districts may be bounded by precinct or 
ward lines. 

The territory now forming the county 
of Cook shall constitute nineteen senato¬ 
rial districts. The territory forming the 
rest of the state shall constitute thirty- 
eight senatorial districts. At each appor¬ 
tionment the number so voting in the 
county of Cook shall be divided by nine¬ 
teen and the quotient shall be the senator¬ 
ial ratio fcr that territory and the number 
so voting in the rest of the state shall be 
divided by thirty-eight and the quotient 
shall be the senatorial ratio for that te ri- 
tory. The senatorial districts in each 
te ritot-y shall contain as nearly as practi¬ 
cable the ratio for that territory but in no 
case less than three-fourths of such ratio. 


This section is added to the Pill of 
Rights and conforms to the provisions of 
the federal constitution. 


This article is the same as Art. Ill of 
the constitution of 1870, with the section 
added providing for a representative form 
of government. 


Secs. 22, 23 and 24 are substituted for 
Secs. 1, 6, 7 and 8 of Art. IV of the consti¬ 
tution of 1870, governing the election of 
members of the general assembly. The 
number of senatorial districts is increased 
from 51 to 57, each electing one senator. 
Cook county contains 19 senatorial 
districts as at present, and downstate 
is given 38 senatorial districts. Cumu¬ 
lative voting for representatives is abol¬ 
ished. The state is to be divided into 153 
representative districts, apportioned ac¬ 
cording to electors, each district electing 
one member of the house of represent¬ 
atives. 









25 


At each apportionment the number so 
voting in the entire state shall be divided 
by one hundred fifty-three and the quo¬ 
tient shall be the representative ratio for 
the state. Representative districts shall 
contain as nea ly as practicable the repre¬ 
sentative ratio. No district shall contain 
less than four-fifths of the representative 
ratio. Put a county having less than four- 
fifths of the ratio may be joined with an 
adjoining county having less than the 
ratio in forming a district; counties having 
less than four-fifths of the ratio may be 
formed into districts of one or more coun¬ 
ties; such districts shall be as near the 
ratio as practicable; and when of more 
than one county such counties shall be 
adjoining. Counties comprising not less 
than one ratio and three-fourths shall be 
divided into two or more districts. Each 
district in counties comprising more than 
two districts shall contain at least the full 
ratio. 

Section 24. If the general assembly 
fails to make any such apportionment it 
shall be the duty of the secretary of state, 
the attorney general and the auditor of 
public accounts to meet at the office of the 
governor within ninety days after the ad¬ 
journment of the regular session of the 
year designated for that purpose and make 
an apportionment as provided in section 
twenty-three of this constitution. 

Section 25. Senators shall be at least 
twenty-five and representatives at least 
twenty-one years of age. No person shall 
be a member of the general assembly who 
holds any other lucrative public office or 
employment (except as a militia officer or 
justice of the peace) or is not a citizen of 
the United States or has not resided for 
five years in the state and for two years 
next before his election in the territory 
forming the district. 

Section 26. Senators fiom even num¬ 
bered districts shall be elected in nineteen 
hundred twenty-four and those from odd 
numbered districts in nineteen hundred 
twenty-six and every four years thereafter. 
Representatives shall be elected in nine¬ 
teen hundred twenty-four and every two 
years thereafter. Senators shall hold 
office for four years and representatives 
for two years beginning on the day of the 
convening of the regular session next after 
the election. Vacancies shall be filled by 
special elections called by the governor. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
3, Art. IV, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 2, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870, to conform to the 
changes made by Sec. 23. 






26 


Time of Meeting and Rules 

Section 27. The general assembly shall 
convene at noon on Wednesday after the 
first Monday in January in odd numbered 
years. The secretary of state shall preside 
over the house of representatives until a 
temporary presiding officer is chosen who 
shall preside until a speaker is chosen. 
The lieutenant governor shall preside over 
the senate and may vote in case of tie. 
The senate shall choose a president to 
preside during the absence or pending the 
impeachment of the lieutenant governor 
or while he acts as governor. 

Section 28. The governor may convene 
the general assembly by proclamation on 
extraordinary occasions; but it shall enter 
upon no business save that stated in the 
proclamation or in one additional message 
from the governor during the session. 

Section 29. Members of the general 
assembly before entering upon their duties 
shall take and subscribe the following oath 
or affirmation: 

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 
will support the constitution of the United 
States and the constitution of the State of 
Illinois and will faithfully discharge the 
duties of senator (or representative) to the 
best of my ability; that I have not, know¬ 
ingly or intentionally, paid or contributed 
anything or made any promise in the 
- nature of a bribe directly or indirectly to 
influence any vote at my election; that I 
have not accepted, nor will I accept or 
receive, directly or indirectly, any money 
or other valuable thing from any corpo¬ 
ration, association or person for any vote 
or influence I may give or withhold on any 
bill, resolution or appropriation or for any 
other official act. 

This oath shall be administered by a 
judge of the supreme or circuit court in the 
hall of the house to which the member is 
elected. The secretary of state shall 
record and file the oath subscribed by each 
member. Any member who refuses to 
take this oath shall forfeit his office. Any 
member who is convicted of swearing 
falsely to or of violating his oath shall for¬ 
feit his office and be disqualified thereafter 
from holding any office in this state. 

Section 30. A majority of the members 
elected to each house shall constitute a 
quorum. Each house shall determine its 
rules, choose its temporary and permanent 
officers and judge the election and qualifi¬ 
cations of its members. Each house may 
punish by imprisonment not exceeding 


This section is a revision of parts of Sec. 
9, Art. IV, and Sec. 18, Art. V, of the con¬ 
stitution of 1870, governing the organiza¬ 
tion of the general assembly. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 8, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, giving a special 
session of the general assembly the further 
power to consider business suggested by 
one additional message from the governor 
during the session. 

This section is the same as Sec. 5, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870. 


This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 9, Art. 
IV, of the constitution of 1870, without 
any change in substance. 






27 


twenty-tour hours (unless the offense is 
persisted in) any person not a member 
guilty of disorderly or contemptuous 
behavior in its presence; and by a vote of 
two-thirds of those elected and once only 
for the same offense may expel a member. 

Section 31. The doors of each house 
and of committees of the whole shall be 
open except when in the opinion of the 
house secrecy is required. Neither house 
without the consent of the other shall 
change its place of sitting or adjourn for 
more than three days. Each house shall 
keep and publish a journal of its proceed¬ 
ings. Two members of the senate or five 
members of the house may have the yeas 
and nays taken on any question and en¬ 
tered upon the journal. Two members of 
either house may have entered upon the 
journal in respectful language the reasons 
for their dissent from or protest against 
any act or resolution. 

Section 32. If the two houses disagree 
as to time of adjournment, the governor 
on receiving a certificate of such disagree¬ 
ment from either house may adjourn the 
general assembly to any time not beyond 
the first day of the next regular session. 

Section 33. By joint resolution con¬ 
curred in on roll call by two-thirds of the 
members elected to each house, the general 
assembly may authorize committees to 
continue after its adjournment sine die 
and until the next regular session con¬ 
venes. 

Legislative Procedure 

Section 34. No law shall be passed 
except by bill. Bills may be originated, 
amended or rejected in either house. 

Section 35. The enacting clause of 
laws shall be: Be it enacted by the People 
of the State of Illinois, represented in the 
General Assembly. 

Section 36. No act shall embrace more 
than one subject and that shall be express¬ 
ed in the title. Any act embracing a 
subject not expressed in the title shall be 
void only as to such subject. No act 
shall be revived by reference to its title 
only. An act expressly amending an act 
shall set forth at length the section or 
sections as amended. 


This section is the same as Sec. 10, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870, except it gives to 
either the senate or house the right of 
independent adjournment for 3 instead of 
2 days. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 9, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, to allow either 
house to certify the disagreement to the 
governor. 


This section is added to correct a defect 
in the constitution of 1870. 


The first sentence of this section is added 
to Sec. 12, Art. IV, constitution of 1870, 
to prevent enactment of law by resolution 
or otherwise than by bill. 

This section is the same as Sec. 11, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870. 


This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 13, 
Art. IV, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 









28 


Section 37. Appropriation bills to pay- 
members, officers and employees of the 
general assembly shall contain no provi¬ 
sion on any other subject. Appropriations 
for the offices of governor, lieutenant 
governor, secretary of state, attorney 
general, treasurer, auditor of public 
accounts and superintendent of public 
instruction shall be made by separate bills 
for each office. 

Section 38. Bills making appopia- 
tions of money out of the treasury shall 
specify the objects and purposes for which 
the appropriations are made and app o- 
priate to them respectively their several 
amounts in distinct items and sections. 

Section 39. No subject matter shall 
be included in any conference committee 
report on an appropriation bill unless such 
subject matter directly relates to matters 
of difference between the houses and has 
been specifically refe red to the conference 
committee. No appropriation bill shall 
be passed and no report of any conference 
committee on an approp iation bill shall 
be considered unless the bill or report has 
been printed in its final form and placed 
on the desks of the members at least three 
legislative days prior to the final passage 
of the bill or the consideration of the 
report. 

Section 40. Every bill shall be read by 
title on three different days in each house 
but the rules of either house may provide 
for the reading of bills at greater length on 
second and third reading. 

Section 41. Every bill and all amend¬ 
ments thereto, except an amendment 
striking out an emergency clause, shall be 
printed before final passage in each house. 
No bill shall become law unless on final 
passage in each house a majority of the 
members elected concur by yea and nay 
vote which shall be taken separately on 
each bill and entered upon the journals. 
When passed by both houses a bill shall be 
signed by the presiding officers thereof and 
the facts of printing, placing on the desks 
of members, signing and presentation to 
the governor and the date of such presen¬ 
tation shall be entered upon the journals. 

Section 42. Every bill passed by the 
general assembly shall be presented to the 
governor and if signed by him shall there¬ 
upon become law. At the time of signing 
an appropriation bill the governor may 
disapprove any section or item thereof bv 
appending to the bill a statement of his 


This section changes the provisions of 
Sec. 16, Art. IV, constitution of 1870, 
which is in the language following: 

The General Assembly shall make no 
appropriation of money out of the 
treasury in any private law. Bills 
making appropriations for the pay of 
members and officers of the General 
Assembly, and for the salaries of the 
officers of the government shall contain 
no provision on any other subject. 

This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 16, 
Art. V, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 


This is a new section, added to prevent 
large appropriation bills being rushed 
through the closing hours of a session of a 
general assembly without opportunity for 
mature consideration. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 

13, Art. IV, constitution of 1870, with 
reference to reading of bills before the 
general assembly. 

This section is a revision of pa^ts of 
.Secs. 13 and 12, Art. IV, constitution of 
1870, and adds provisions requiring cer- - 
tain entries upon the journals to validate 
an act. 


This section is the same as Sec. 16, Art. V, 
constitution of 1870, except that it requ : res 
thegovernor to append hisobjectionsto the 
bill with his veto, and allows the governor 
30 instead of 10 days after adjournment 
of the general assemblv in which to con¬ 
sider bills. See Sec. 38, new constitution. 








29 


objections. If the governor does not ap¬ 
prove a bill or if he disapproves an appro¬ 
priation bill in part, he shall return the 
bill with his objections to the house where 
it originated. If thereafter such dis- 
app-oved bill or any disapproved section 
or item of an appropriation bill is again 
approved by two-thirds of the members 
elected to each house, the bill or such sec¬ 
tion or item of an appropriation bill shall 
become law notwithstanding the objec¬ 
tions of the governor. Any disapproved 
bill or disapproved part of an appropria¬ 
tion bill shall be reconsidered first in the 
house where the bill originated and then 
sent with the objections of the governor 
to the other house. Each house before 
reconsidering shall enter the governor’s 
objections at large upon its journal. 

Any bill which is not returned by the 
governor within ten days, Sundays except¬ 
ed, after it is presented to him shall there¬ 
upon become law as if he had signed it. If 
the general assembly by adjournment 
prevents its return the bill shall become 
law at the end of thirty days after such 
adjournment unless within that time the 
governor files the bill and his objections 
with the secretary of state. 

Section 43. No appropriation act shall 
take effect until the first day of July suc¬ 
ceeding its enactment and no other act 
shall take effect until sixty days after the 
adjournment of the session at which it was 
enacted; but in an emergency, the fact of 
which shall be expressed in the body of the 
act, the general assembly may direct other¬ 
wise by a vote of two-thirds of the mem¬ 
bers elected to each house. 

Legislative Limitations 

Section 44. No local or special law 
shall grant divorces; change the names of 
persons or places; provide for opening, 
altering or working public highways; 
vacate highways, public grounds or town 
plats; regulate county or town affairs; 
create municipal corporations or amend 
their charters; provide for summoning or 
impaneling juries; provide for the man¬ 
agement of common schools, regulate 
interest rates; regulate elections or desig¬ 
nate places of voting;-regulate the sale or 
mortgage of real estate of persons under 
disability; protect game or fish unless by 
reasonable classification of waters ^author¬ 
ize ferries or toll bridges; remit fines, 
penalties or forfeitures; change the law of 
descent; grant the right to construct rail¬ 
road tracks; grant any special or exclusive 
privilege, immunity or franchise; or grant 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
13, Art. IV, constitution of 1870, and pro¬ 
vides that laws (other than appropriation 
laws) shall go into effect 60 days after 
adjournment of the session instead of on 
July 1 after passage. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 22, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870, to accommodate 
changes made in the articles on Judicial 
Department and Local Governments. 
Sec. 1, Art. XI, constitution of 1870, has 
been consolidated with this section. The 
wording of this section has been materially 
reduced in length without any substantial 
change. 








30 


or change any corporate powers except 
those of educational, charitable, reforma¬ 
tory or penal corporations, under the 
patronage and control of the state. 

Section 45. No special law shall be 
enacted if a general law can be made 
applicable. 

Section 46. Lotteries and gift enter¬ 
prises are forbidden. 

Section 47. No liability due the state 
or any subdivision-thereof or any munici¬ 
pal corporation shall ever be released or 
extinguished by law. 

Section 48. No officer shall be elected 
or appointed by the general assembly or 
by either house except their respective 
officers. 

Section 49. No law shall be passed 
authorizing any bank of issue or author¬ 
izing the state to conduct, own any interest 
in or incur any liability for any banking 
business. 


Section 50. No law shall be passed 
authorizing the labor of any convict 
confined within any penitentiary or other 
reformatory institution to be let to any 
corporation, association or person. 

Impeachments 

Section 51. The governor and all civil 
officers of the state shall be liable to im¬ 
peachment for misdemeanor in office. 
The house of representatives shall have 
the sole power of impeachment. A major¬ 
ity of the members elected must concur 
therein. Impeachments shall be tried by 
the senate, each senator being upon oath 
or affirmation to do justice according to 
the law and the evidence. When the 
governor is tried the chief justice shall 
preside. No person shall be convicted 


This section is the same as the last 
clause of Sec. 22, Art. IV, constitution of 
1870. 

This section is the same as Sec. 27, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870. 

This section is a revision of Sec. 23, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870, to include any 
liability due a subdivision of the state. 


This section is the same as the last 
clause of Sec. 10, Art. V, constitution of 
1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 5, Art. 
XI, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

No State bank shall hereafter be 
created, nor shall the State own or be 
liable for any stock in any corporation 
or joint stock company or association 
for banking purposes now created, or to 
be hereafter created. No Act of the 
General Assembly authorizing or creat¬ 
ing corporations or associations with 
banking powers, whether of issue, de¬ 
posit or discount, nor amendments 
thereto, shall go into effect or in any 
manner be in force, unless the same 
shall be submitted to a vote of the 
people at the general election next suc¬ 
ceeding the passage of the same, and be 
approved by a majority of all the votes 
cast at such election for or against such 
law. 

This section makes no change in the 
present constitution. See separate sec¬ 
tion, "Convict Labor”, Amendment of 
1886. 


This section consolidates the provisions 
of Sec. 15, Art. V, and Sec. 24, Art. IV, 
constitution of 1870. 











31 


without the concurrence of two-thirds of 
the senators elected. Judgment in case of 
impeachment shall not extend beyond 
removal from office and disqualification 
for any office under the st ite; but the per¬ 
son impeached whether convicted or ac¬ 
quitted shall be liable to prosecution 
according to law. 

Provisions Concerning Members 

Section 52. The pay and mileage al¬ 
lowed each senator and representative 
shall be certified by the presiding officers 
of their respective houses and entered 
upon the journals. No senator or repre¬ 
sentative shall receive any other compen¬ 
sation or allowance. No law increasing 
the pay or other allowance of members of 
the general assembly shall take effect until 
the second regular session next following 
its enactment. 

Section 53. Except for treason, felony 
or breach of the peace senators and repre¬ 
sentatives shall be privileged from arrest 
while going to, attending or returning 
from sessions of the general assembly. 
They shall not be questioned elsewhere for 
any speech in either house. 

Section 54. No person elected to the 
general assembly shall receive or hold any 
lucrative civil appointment in this state 
during the term for which he is elected. 

Section 55. No member of the general 
assembly during his term or within one 
year thereafter shall. be beneficially 
interested directly or indirectly in any 
contract, authorized by a law enacted 
during his term, with the state or any sub¬ 
division thereof or any municipal corpora¬ 
tion. 


Miscellaneous Provisions 

Section 56. The general assembly shall 
pass liberal homestead and exemption 
laws. 

Section 57. The general assembly shall 
pass laws to encourage forestry. 

Section 58. The general assembly shall 
pass laws for the protection of operative 
miners, providing for ventilation and the 


This section is a revision of Sec. 21, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870, extending the 
time when a law increasing the salaries of 
members of the general assembly shall 
take effect from the succeeding to the 
second regular session following the pas¬ 
sage of the act. 


This section is the same as Sec. 14, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870. 


Secs. 54 and 55 constitute a revision of 
Sec. 15, Art. IV, constitution of 1870, 
which provides: 

No person elected to the General 
Assembly shall receive any civil ap¬ 
pointment within the State from the 
Governor, the Governor and Senate, or 
from the General Assembly, during the 
term for which he shall have been 
elected; and all such appointments, 
and all votes given for any such mem¬ 
bers for any such office or appointment, 
shall be void; nor shall any member of 
the General Assembly be interested, 
either directly or indirectly, in any con¬ 
tract with the State, or any county 
thereof, authorized by any law passed 
during the term for which he shall have 
been elected, or within one year after 
the expiration thereof. 


This section is the same as Sec. 32, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is the same as Sec. 29, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870. 









32 


construction of escapement shafts or 
other appliances securing safety in mines 
and shall prescribe such penalties and 
punishments for the enforcement thereof 
as it deems proper. 

Section 59. The general assembly may 
p ovide (a) for opening private roads to 
communicate with public roads, (b) for 
permitting owners and lessees of lands and 
minerals to construct drains, ditches and 
levees on, across or under the lands of 
others for agricultural, sanitary or mining 
purposes, (c) for organizing drainage dis¬ 
tricts for flood control or for sanitary or 
agricultural purposes with powers of emi¬ 
nent domain and special assessment and 
(d) for making surveys and straightening 
and improving water courses at the ex¬ 
pense in part of drainage districts and in 
part of the state or any subdivision there¬ 
of. This section and the three preceding 
sections shall not be construed as limita¬ 
tions of the powers of the general assem¬ 
bly. 


Section 60. The general assembly may 
authorize the state or any subdivision 
thereof or any municipal corporation to 
take in fee simple and to hold, lease or sell 
more land than is needed for a public im¬ 
provement whenever the court finds the 
excess is required to protect, preserve or 
aid the improvement and is reasonable in 
quantity therefor. 

Section 61. The general assembly shall 
not grant the right to occupy the streets 
or public grounds of any municipal cor¬ 
poration without its consent. 

Section 62. The general assembly in 
order to promote the general welfare may 
authorize cities, villages and incorporated 
towns to adopt reasonable regulations 
governing the use and appearance of land 
and the location, appearance, size and use 
of structures and to divide their territory 
into zones to each of which special regula¬ 
tions may be applied. Distinctions may 
be made between conditions existing at 
the time of adoption of any such regula¬ 
tions and future conditions. Such regu¬ 
lations shall not be enforced as to condi¬ 
tions existing at the time of their adoption 
without payment of just compensation 
unless such regulations might lawfully be 
of enforced irrespective of the provisions 
so this section. Any statute in force at 
the time of the adoption of this constitu- 


This section is a revision and consolida¬ 
tion of Secs. 30 and 31, Art. IV, constitu¬ 
tion of 1870, which provide: 

Sec. 30. The G ene* al Assembly may 
provide for establishing and opening 
roads and cartways, connected with a 
public road, for private and public use. 

Sec. 31. The General Assembly may 
pass laws permitting the owners of 
lands to construct drains, ditches and 
levees for agricultural, sanitary or min¬ 
ing purposes, across the lands of others, 
and provide for the organization of 
drainage districts, and vest the corpor¬ 
ate authorities thereof with .power to 
construct and maintain levees, drains 
and ditches and to keep in repair all 
drains, ditches and levees heretofore 
constructed under the laws of this State, 
by special assessments upon the proper¬ 
ty benefited thereby. 

This section is new. 


t 1 his section is a revision of Sec. 4, Art. 
-VI, constitution of 18/0, and preserves 
the control of municipalities over their 
streets and public grounds. 

1 his section is new. It allows the 
general assembly to enact laws permitting 
zoning in municipalities. 











33 


tion (or any ordinance passed in conform¬ 
ity with such statute) which comes within 
the p: ovisions of this section shall be valid. 

Section 63. The general assembly may 
provide for lending money on farm lands 
in the state; but no act providing therefor 
(or any amendment thereto) shall take 
effect until it is approved by a majority of 
those voting on the question at a general 
election. Such loans shall be amortized 
in not to exceed thirty-three years and 
shall be secured by first mortgages or 
deeds of trust made by those owning, 
occupying and cultivating the lands 
pledged. Reasonable preferences concern¬ 
ing loans may be given to persons honor¬ 
ably discharged from the armed forces of 
the United States. 

Section 64. Every stockholder of a 
bank shall be liable (in addition to any 
liability for his stock) to the amount of 
the par value of the stock held by him for 
liabilities of the bank accruing while he 
held such stock. The general assembly 
shall provide the manner in which that 
obligation may be enforced. In every 
election for directors of a bank each stock¬ 
holder may cast, in person or by proxy, as 
many votes as shall equal the number of 
directors to be elected multiplied by the 
number of shares owned by him and may 
cumulate his votes for one candidate or 
distribute them among several. 

ARTICLE IV 
Executive Department 

Section 65. The executive department 
shall consist of a governor, lieutenant 
governor, secretary of state, attorney 
general, treasurer, auditor of public ac¬ 
counts, superintendent of public instruc¬ 
tion and such other officers as provided by 
law. Except the lieutenant governor 
they shall reside at the seat of government 
during their terms. 

Section 66. The governor and lieuten¬ 
ant governor each shall be at least thirty- 
five years of age and a citizen of the state 
for ten years next before his election. No 
elective officer of the executive depart¬ 
ment shall hold another office during the 
term for which he is elected. 

Section 67. No state treasurer shall 
again hold that office within four years 
after his term expires. The treasurer may 
be required by the governor to give 
reasonable additional security and in 
default of so doing his office shall be 
deemed vacant. 


d his section is new. The purpose is to 
permit the general assembly to establish 
a system of land credits to aid and encour¬ 
age the ownership of land by actual occu¬ 
pants cultivating it. 


^ This section is a revision of Sec. 6, Art. 
XI, constitution of 1870. 


This section covers most of the subject 
matter contained in Sec. 1, Art. V, consti¬ 
tution of 1870, without any change in 
substance. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 5, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, raising the age 
and state residence qualifications of the 
governor from 30 years of age and 5 years 
residence to 35 years of age and 10 years 
residence. 


This section is a revision of parts of Sec. 
2, Art. V, constitution of 1870, and in¬ 
creases the time within which the state 
treasurer may not again hold that office 
from 2 years to 4 years. 









34 


Section 68. The officers specifically 
named in section sixty-five of this consti¬ 
tution except the superintendent of public 
instruction shall be elected in nineteen 
hundred twenty-four and every four 
years thereafter. The superintendent 
of public instruction shall be elected in 
nineteen hundred twenty-six and every 
four years thereafter. The term of office 
of every such officer shall be four years 
from the second Monday of January next 
after his election. 

Section 69. The election returns for 
officers of the executive department shall 
be sealed and transmitted by the return¬ 
ing officers to the secretary of state 
directed to the speaker of the house of 
representatives. Before that house pro¬ 
ceeds to other business and immediately 
after its organization, the speaker shall 
open and publish such returns in the pres¬ 
ence of a majority of each house assembled 
in the hall of the house of representatives 
and then declare elected to each office the 
person so shown to have the highest num¬ 
ber of votes therefor. The general assem¬ 
bly by ballot in joint session shall deter¬ 
mine contested elections for such offices 
and in case of tie shall choose in like man¬ 
ner one of the persons tied. 

Section 70. The public records and 
papers of the executive department shall 
be kept at the seat of government. 

Section 71. The officers of the exec¬ 
utive department shall be paid salaries 
and shall not receive to their own use any 
other compensation. 

Section 72. Each officer of the execu¬ 
tive department shall perform such duties 
as are prescribed by law. 

Section 73. The supreme executive 
power shall be vested in the governor who 
shall take care that the laws are faithfully 
executed. 

Section 74. At the commencement of 
each regular session and at the close of his 
term the governor shall inform the general 
assembly of the condition of the state and 
recommend such measures as he deems 
expedient. At the same times he shall 
account to the general assembly for all 
funds subject to his order. 

Section 75. The governor shall nomi¬ 
nate and with the consent by yea and nay 
vote of a majority of those elected to the 


This section is a revision of Sec. 3, Art. 
V, and part of Sec. 1, Art. V, constitution 
of 1870. 

The term of the state treasurer is 
made 4 instead of 2 years. 


This section is the same as Sec. 4, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870. The section has 
been rephrased without changing the sub¬ 
stance. 


This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 1, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 

This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 23, 
Art. V, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 

This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 1, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 

This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 6, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 

This section is a revision of lec. 7, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, and covers the 
same subject matter. 


This section is a consolidation of the 
subject matter of Secs. 10 and 11, Art. V, 
constitution of 1870. 










35 


senate shall appoint all officers whose 
appointment or election is not otherwise 
prescribed by law. If a vacancy exists 
during the recess of the senate in any 
office where the appointing power is vested 
in the governor subject to the consent of 
the senate, the governor shall make a tem¬ 
porary appointment until the next meet¬ 
ing of the senate when he shall nominate 
some person for the office. No person 
rejected by the senate shall be nominated 
again for the office at the same session save 
on request of the senate or be appointed 
to the office during the recess of the sen¬ 
ate. 

Section 76. For incompetency, neglect 
of duty or malfeasance in office the gover¬ 
nor may remove any officer whom he may 
appoint. 

Section 77. The governor may grant 
reprieves, commutations and pardons for 
all offenses after conviction on such terms 
as he thinks proper; but the manner of 
applying therefor may be regulated by 
law. 


Section 78. The governor shall be 
commander-in-chief of the armed forces 
of the state except when they are in the 
service of the United States and may call 
them out to execute the law, protect life 
or property, suppress insurrection or repel 
invasion. 

Section 79. If the office of governor 
becomes vacant the lieutenant governor 
shall become governor for the residue of 
the term. If the governor fails to qualify, 
is absent from the state or is under dis¬ 
ability, the powers, duties and emolu¬ 
ments of the office shall devolve upon the 
lieutenant governor for the residue of the 
term or until the cause which renders the 
governor incapable of performing his 
duties is removed. If there is no lieuten¬ 
ant governor or if for any of the above 
causes he is incapable of performing the 
duties of the office, its powers, duties and 
emoluments shall devolve, first upon the 
president of the senate and after him, for 
like causes, upon the speaker of the house 
of representatives; but each of them shall 
act only until the cause which renders the 
officer having the prior right incapable of 
performing the duties of the office is 
removed or until the vacancy is filled by 
election. 


This section is the same as Sec. 12, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 13, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, which provides: 
The Governor shall have power to 
grant reprieves, commutations and par¬ 
dons, after conviction, for all offenses, 
subject to such regulations as may be 
provided by law relative to the manner 
of applying therefor. 

This section is a revision of Sec. 14, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870, under which the 
power of the governor to call out the 
militia to protect life or property at times 
of great public disaster, danger or catas¬ 
trophe was questioned. 


This section is a consolidation of the 
subject matter of Secs. 17 and 19, Art. V, 
constitution of 1870. 







36 


Section 80. If the office of secretary of 
state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor 
of public accounts or superintendent of 
public instruction becomes vacant, the 
governor shall fill the vacancv by appoint¬ 
ment until a successor is elected and 
qualified. 

Section 81. Each officer of the execu¬ 
tive department and the chief officer of 
each public institution of the state shall 
render under oath to the governor a semi¬ 
annual account of all moneys received or 
disbursed. At least ten days before the 
regular session of the general assembly 
each of these officers shall report the con¬ 
dition of his office to the governor who 
shall transmit the reports to the general 
assembly. Additional reports may be 
required of these officers by the governor. 

Section 82. The state treasurer as a 
part of each semiannual report shall 
show the daily balances of state funds in 
his custody and in every bank, safe or 
other place of deposit or safe keeping 
where such funds were during the period 
covered by the report. He shall accom¬ 
pany his report with a sworn statement 
of an executive officer in charge of every 
such bank, safe or other place of deposit. 
Such statement shall show each payment 
of interest or other compensation made or 
to be made by reason of the deposit or 
use or keeping of any part of such funds. 

Section 83. There shall be a great seal 
of the State of Illinois to be kept and used 
by the secretary of state as directed by law. 

Section 84. The auditor of public 
accounts shall publish within sixty days 
after the adjournment of each session of 
the general assembly a statement of the 
expenses of such session, specifying the 
amount of each item and to whom and for 
what paid. 

Section 85. A uniform system of 
accounts for all county officers shall be 
prescribed and supervised by the auditor 
of public accounts and their accounts 
shall be audited by him. 

ARTICLE V 

Judicial Dep irtment 

Section 86. The judicial power shall 
be vested in a supreme court, in appellate, 
circuit and county courts and in justices 
of the peace. 


This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 20, 
Art. V, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 


This section is a consolidation and re¬ 
vision of paH of Sec. 20 and all of Sec. 21, 
Art. V, constitution of 1870, relating to 
the same subject matter. 


This section is new. 


This section is the same as Sec. 22, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870. 

This section is the same as the last 
sentence of Sec. 17, Art. IV, constitution 
of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 1, Art. 

VI, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

The judicial powers, except as in this 
article is otherwise provided, shall be 
vested in one Supreme Court, circuit 
courts, county courts, justices of the 
peace, police magistrates, and in s ich 
courts as may be created by law in and 
for cities and mcOrporate'd towns. 










37 


The Supreme Court 

Section 87. The supreme court shall 
consist of nine justices one of whom to be 
chosen by themselves shall be chief jus¬ 
tice. 

Section 88. The state shall be divided 
into seven districts for the election of 
justices. The district including the coun¬ 
ty of Cook shall elect three justices, not 
more than two of whom shall at the time 
of their respective elections reside in the 
same county. Each of the other six dis¬ 
tricts shall elect one justice. Until 
otherwise provided by law, the seven 
districts shall remain as at the time of the 
adoption of this constitution. 

Section 89. One justice shall be elected 
in the first district in nineteen hundred 
thirty-three; one justice shall be elected 
in the second district in nineteen hundred 
thirty-five; one justice shall be elected in 
the third district in nineteen hundred 
thirty-three; one justice shall be elected 
in the fourth district in nineteen hundred 
thirty-nine; one justice shall be elected in 
the fifth district in nineteen hundred 
thirty-seven; one justice shall be elected 
in the sixth district in nineteen hundred 
thirty-seven; one justice shall be elected 
in the seventh district in nineteen hun¬ 
dred thirty-one; one justice shall be 
elected in the seventh district in nineteen 
hundred thirty-three; one justice shall be 
elected in the seventh district in nineteen 
hundred thirty-five. The justices from the 
seventh district shall be elected on the 
first' Monday of June in the years in 
which their terms expire and the justices 
from the first, second, third, fourth, fifth 
and sixth districts shall be elected on the 
first Tuesday after the first Monday of 
November in the years in which their 
terms expire. The term of office of each 
justice shall be ten years from the date of 
his election. 

Section 90. Whenever a quorum of the 
supreme court certifies to the governor 
that it is unable to dispose of pending cases 
with reasonable dispatch because of the 
death, disability or resignation of any jus¬ 
tice, the governor shall designate a judge 
of one of the appellate courts to act as a 
justice of the supreme court and receive 
the salary paid a justice of that court until 
the vacancy is filled or the supreme court 
certifies to the governor that the disability 
is removed. Such designation shall not 
affect the term of such judge. 


This section is a revision of parts of 
Secs. 2 and 6, Art. VI, constitution of 1870, 
and p-ovides for a supreme court of 9 
instead of 7 justices. 

This section is a revision of Sec. 5, Art. 
VI, constitution of 1870, and p ovides for 
the election of 3 justices from the seventh 
district, no mo r e than 2 of whom are to be 
elected from the same county. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 6, Art. 
VI, constitution of 1870, to conform to the 
provisions of Sec. 88. 


This section is new. 










38 


Section 91. The supreme court shall 
sit at the seat of government. A majority 
of the justices shall constitute a quorum 
and the concurrence of five shall be neces¬ 
sary for every decision. 

Section 92. The supreme court shall 
have the original jurisdiction in cases 
relating to the revenue, in quo warranto, 
mandamus, habeas corpus, prohibition and 
other cases involving questions of great 
public importance and appellate jurisdic¬ 
tion in all cases. 

Section 93. The supreme court shall 
have exclusive power to prescribe rules of 
pleading, practice and procedure in all 
courts; but rules not inconsistent there¬ 
with may be prescribed respectively by 
other courts of record. Any rule of plead¬ 
ing, practice or procedure may be set aside 
by the general assembly by a special law 
limited to that purpose. 

Section 94. The supreme court shall 
appoint its clerk and a reporter of its de¬ 
cisions for terms of six years each subject 
to removal by the court. 

Appellate Courts 

Section 95. There shall be an appellate 
court of the first district, an appellate 
court of the second district, an appellate 
court of the third district and an appellate 
court of the fourth district. They shall be 
of uniform jurisdiction and have such dis¬ 
tricts and sit at such places as provided by 
law. 

Section 96. Each appellate court shall 
consist of three judges or such multiple 
of three as the supreme court may from 
time to time determine. In appellate 
courts of more than three judges the su¬ 
preme court may assign the judges thereof 
to divisions of three judges each. Each 
division shall select a presiding judge and 
the presiding judges shall apportion the 
work of the court among the several divi¬ 
sions and perform such other administra¬ 
tive acts as may be necessary. 

Section 97. Judges of appellate courts 
shall be appointed by the supreme court. 
The terms of judges of appellate courts 
shall be six years and shall expire in the 
first district on December thirty-first, 
nineteen hundred twenty-eight, and in the 
other districts on December thirty-first, 
nineteen hundred twenty-seven, and every 
six years thereafter respectively, except 
that judges appointed to newly created 
divisions shall hold office only until the 
last day of the pending term for appellate 


This section consolidates Sec. 4 and part 
of Sec. 2, Art. VI, constitution of 1870. 


t This section is a revision of Sec. 2, Art. 
VI, constitution of 1870, giving the su¬ 
preme court original jurisdiction in quo 
warranto, prohibition and other cases 
involving questions of great public impor¬ 
tance in addition to that conferred by the 
constitution of 1870. 

This section is new, and is designed to 
effect the functioning of the judiciary as an 
independent department of the govern¬ 
ment. 


This section is a revision of Secs. 10 and 
9, Art. VI, constitution of 1870, and 
makes the clerk an appointive instead of 
an elective officer. 


Sec. 11, Art. VI, constitution of 1870, 
provides: 

After the year of our Lord one thous¬ 
and eight hundred and seventy-four, 
inferior appellate courts, of uniform or¬ 
ganization and jurisdiction, may be 
created in districts formed for that pur¬ 
pose, to which such appeals and writs of 
error as the General Assembly may 
provide, may be prosecuted from circuit 
and other courts, and from which ap¬ 
peals and writs of error shall lie to the 
Supreme Court,. in all criminal cases, 
and cases in which a franchise, or free¬ 
hold, or the validity of a statute is 
involved, and in such other cases as may 
be provided by law. Such appellate 
courts shall be held by such number of 
judges of the circuit courts, and at such 
times and places, and in such manner as 
may be provided by law; but no judge 
shall sit in review upon cases decided by 
him; . nor shall said judges receive any 
additional compensation for such ser¬ 
vices. 

Secs. 95, 96, 97, 98 and 99, are revisions 
of Sec. 11, Art. VI, set out above. How¬ 
ever, the existing appellate court organi¬ 
zation is not disturbed. 















39 


judges. On or before January first, nine¬ 
teen hundred twenty-nine, in the first dis¬ 
trict and. January first, nineteen hundred 
twenty-eight, in the other districts and 
every six years thereafter judges of all the 
appellate courts shall be appointed. The 
supreme court for cause shown of record 
may remove any judge of an appellate 
court. 

Section 98. The appellate courts shall 
hold such sessions as the supreme court 
may direct. 

Section 99. Each appellate court shall 
appoint its clerk for a term of six years 
subject to removal by the court. 

Appeals and Writs of Error 

Section 100. Appeals from and writs 
of error to circuit and county courts may 
be prosecuted in all cases as follows: (a) 
to or from the supreme court in all crim¬ 
inal cases where the punishment allowed 
by law may be death or imprisonment in 
the penitentiary and in cases where a 
franchise or a freehold or the validity of a 
statute is involved, (b) to or from the 
appellate courts in such other cases as may 
be prescribed by general rule of the su¬ 
preme court and (c) to or from the supreme 
court in all other cases. Except as above 
limited the supreme court by general rule 
may prescribe the final jurisdiction of 
appellate courts unless otherwise provided 
by law. 

Circuit Courts outside the County of Cook 

Section 101. The state*outside of the 
county of Cook shall be divided into judi¬ 
cial circuits formed of contiguous counties 
as compact in form and as nearly equal as 
circumstances permit having regard to 
business, territory and population. The 
number of such circuits shall not exceed 
one for every one hundred fifty thousand 
population except that a circuit may be 
formed of a county or contiguous counties 
having a population exceeding one hun¬ 
dred thousand if the business of the circuit 
court or courts therein occupies nine 
months of the year. Circuits may be 
changed by law but only at the first session 
of the general assembly after the adoption 
of this constitution and at any session next 
preceding an election for circuit judges. 
No such change shall affect the term of any 
judge. 


# 


This section is a revision of Sec. 8, Art 
VI, and part of Sec. 11, Art. VI, constitu¬ 
tion of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Secs. 13 and 
15, Art. VI, constitution of 1870. 





40 


Section 102. In every circuit there 
shall be elected in nineteen hundred 
twenty-seven and every six years there-* 
after three judges of the circuit court 
whose terms shall be six years from the 
date of their election. 

Section 103. In every such county 
there shall be a circuit court with original 
jurisdiction of all cases at law and in 
equity and such other jurisdiction as pro¬ 
vided by law. 

Section 104. The circuit courts shall 
always be open for the transaction of bus¬ 
iness. The circuit court shall sit at the 
county seat of each county. If a city of 
.more than fifty thousand population in 
any county p* ovides and maintains suita¬ 
ble facilities for holding court, the circuit 
court shall also sit in such city. In any 
city wholly or partly in the county, when¬ 
ever such city or part thereof has not less 
than five thousand population, a majority 
of the judges of the circuit may p ovide 
for holding sessions of court therein, if such 
city provides and maintains suitable facil¬ 
ities for holding court. 

Circuit Court of Cook County 

Section 105. The territory now com¬ 
prising the county of Cook shall constitute 
one circuit and have a circuit court with 
original jurisdiction of all cases, matters 
and proceedings requiring judicial action 
and jurisdiction of appeals from justices of 
the peace. 

t ” . v 

Section 106. There shall be elected to 
the office of judge of the circuit court of 
Cook county on the first Monday of June, 
nineteen hundred thirty-one, nineteen 
judges as successors to the judges whose 
terms expire in that year; on the first 
Monday of June, nineteen hundred thirty- 
three, nineteen judges as successors to the 
judges whose terms expire in that year; 
and on the first Monday of June, nineteen 
hundred thirty-five, twenty judges as 
successors to the judges whose terms 
expire in that year. Thereafter on the 
first Monday of June of the year in which 
the terms of any judges of that court 
expire and every six yea^s thereafter, 
successors to such judges shall be elected. 
Provision may be made by law for the 
election of an additional judge for every 
fifty thousand population in the county 
above three million four hundred thous¬ 
and. The number of judges may also be 
reduced by law. 


This section is a revision of parts of 
Secs. 14 and 12, Art. VI, constitution of 
1870, to carry into effect the new consti¬ 
tution. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
12, Art. VI, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
14, Art. VI, constitution of 1870, which 
provides: 

The General Assembly shall provide 
for the times of holding court in each 
county; which shall not be changed, 
except by the General Assembly next 
preceding the general election for judges 
of said courts; but additional terms 
may be provided for in any county. 


Sections 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 
111 and 112 provide for the reorganization 
of the court system in Cook county. They 
take the place of Secs. 23, 24, 25, 26 and 
27 of Art. VI of the constitution of 1870. 
In this connection Secs. 12, 13 and 14 of 
the Schedule of the new constitution 
should be considered. 








41 


\ 


Section 107. Judges of the circuit 
court of Cook county shall be elected for 
terms of six years from the date of their 
election. At all elections for judges the 
ballots therefor shall be separate and dis¬ 
tinct from the ballots for non-judicial 
officers. 

Section 108. The circuit court of Cook 
county shall sit in the city of Chicago but 
p-ovision may be made by law for holding 
sessions in other cities, villages or incor¬ 
porated towns in the county having a 
population of at least five thousand when¬ 
ever suitable facilities for holding court 
a r e provided and maintained without 
expense to the county or state. 

Section 109. The supreme court shall 
establish a civil division and a criminal 
division of the circuit court of Cook 
county. The supreme court from time to 
time shall assign judges to service in the 
two divisions and shall designate a judge 
to act as chief justice of each division who 
shall have such administrative power and 
authority as may be provided by the 
supreme court. 

Section 110. The supreme court may 
authorize the chief justices of the civil and 
criminal divisions jointly, by and with the 
advice and consent of a majority of the 
judges of the court, to appoint assistants 
who shall have such judicial or other 
powers and duties in respect to the busi¬ 
ness before the court as the supreme court 
may prescribe. The salaries of such 
assistants shall be fixed by the county 
board and paid out of the county treasury. 

Section 111. Electors of the county of 
Cook equal in number to one-tenth of the 
total vote cast for president of the county 
board at the last preceding election may 
file in the circuit court a petition to submit 
to a vote the proposition whether the 
county shall adopt the system hereinafter 
pt-ovided for the appointment of the judges 
of the circuit court. Thereupon the chief 
justice of the civil division of that court by 
an order entered of record shall call a 
special election for submitting such pro¬ 
position within three months after such 
order is entered. If the proposition is 
approved by a majority of those voting 
thereon such chief justice shall declare it 
adopted. If it is disapproved it shall not 
again be submitted for six vears. Upon 
the adoption of the proposition the judges 
in office shall continue in office until re¬ 
moved as herein provided. After the 
adoption of the proposition the manner of 




42 


choosing judges of that court shall be as 
follows: The governor shall fill any vacan¬ 
cy in that court by appointment from a 
list containing the names of not less than 
four eligible persons for each vacancy, 
nominated by a majority of the supreme 
court, not more than one-half of such per¬ 
sons to be affiliated with the same political 
party. Thereafter each judge shall hold 
his office during good behavior subject to 
removal as herein provided. On the first 
Monday in June in the sixth year after the 
election or appointment of every judge, or 
in the seventh year if the sixth is an even 
numbered year, and on the same date in 
every sixth year thereafter the electors 
of the county shall be given an opportunity 
at an election to express their disapproval 
of such judge. If a majority of those 
voting at any such election disapproves of 
any judge his office shall become vacant 
at the end of three months after the elec¬ 
tion and for a period of six years thereafter 
he shall be ineligible to appointment as a 
judge of such court; if such judge is not 
disapproved, he shall continue in office 
and begin a new term on the day of such 
election. All elections under this section 
shall be conducted in the manner pre¬ 
scribed by law\ 

Section 112. After five years from the 
adoption of this constitution the general 
assembly may divide the circuit court into, 
and the jurisdiction thereof between, two 
courts both of which shall be governed by 
the provisions of this article so far as 
applicable. No act providing therefor 
shall become effective until approved by a 
majority of those voting on the question 
at a general election in the county of 
Cook. 

County Courts 

Section 113. In each county except 
the county of Cook there shall be elected 
in nineteen hundred tw T enty-seven and 
every six years thereafter a judge of the 
county court except that contiguous 
counties may by law be made a district in 
which one judge shall be elected for all 
county courts in the district. An addi¬ 
tional judge shall be elected for every fifty 
thousand population or major portion 
thereof in a county or district above a 
population of fifty thousand. The term 
of every county judge shall be six years 
from the date of his election. 

Section 114. In every such county 
there shall be a county court which shall 
have (a) original jurisdiction of all matters 


This section is a revision of part of 
Sec. 18, Art. VI, constitution of 1870, and 
provides for an additional judge for every 
50,000 population or major portion there¬ 
of in a county above 50,000 population. 
The term of the judge of the county court 
is made 6 instead of 4 years. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
18, Art. VI, constitution of 1870, which 
provides: 







43 


of probate, guardianship, conservatorship 
and apprenticeship, the administration 
and settlement of estates of deceased per¬ 
sons and proceedings for the sale of real 
estate where required for the administra¬ 
tion and settlement of such matters or 
estates, proceedings relating to taxes and 
assessments and their collection, and 
criminal cases below the grade of felony, 
(b) concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit 
courts in testamentary trusts, construction 
of wills and partition of real estate where 
any such proceeding is incidental to its 
original jurisdiction, (c) exclusive jurisdic¬ 
tion of appeals from justices of the peace 
and (d) such other jurisdiction as provided 
by law. 

Section 115. County courts shall al¬ 
ways be open for the transaction of bus¬ 
iness. The court shall sit at the county 
seat and shall also sit in cities in the county 
of twenty thousand population or more 
whenever suitable facilities for holding 
court are provided and maintained with¬ 
out expense to the county or state. 

Justices of the Peace 

Section 116. Justices of the peace and 
constables outside the county of Cook 
shall be elected or appointed in such towns 
or districts and such justices of the peace 
shall have such uniform jurisdiction as 
provided by law. They shall receive 
salaries from their respective towns or 
districts to be fixed by the county board. 

Section 117. The chief justice of the 
civil division of the circuit court of Cook 
county shall appoint a justice of the peace 
and a constable in each town or portion of 
town in the county outside the city of Chi¬ 
cago, each of whom shall hold office for 
two years unless sooner removed by such 
chief justice for cause shown of record. An 
additional justice of the peace and con¬ 
stable may be appointed in every such 
town or portion of town for every addition¬ 
al ten thousand population therein _ or 
major portion thereof above a population 
of ten thousand. Such justices of the 
peace shall have the same jurisdiction and 
such constables shall perform the same 
duties in the part of the county of Cook 
outside the city of Chicago as like officials 
in the rest of the state. The salaries of 
such justices of the peace and constables 
shall be fixed by the county board and 
paid by the county. 

Section 118. The offices of justice of 
the peace and constable or either of them 
may be abolished or restored in any town 


County courts shall be courts of 
record, and shall have original jurisdic¬ 
tion in all matters of probate, settlement 
of estates of deceased persons, appoint¬ 
ment of guardians and conservators and 
settlement of their accounts, in all mat¬ 
ters relating to apprentices, and in pro¬ 
ceedings for the collection of taxes and 
assessments, and such other jurisdiction 
as may be provided for by general law. 


This section is new. 


The fee system for justices of the peace 
and constables is abolished. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 21, Art. 
VI, constitution of 1870, so far as .applica¬ 
ble to Cook county. 


This section is new. 







44 


or district (or in any town or portion of a 
town in the county of Cook o r in that pa^t 
of the county of Cook outside the city of 
Chicago as a whole) by a ma;o ity vote 
o p the electors thereof voting on the ques¬ 
tion as p ovided by law. 

State’s Attorneys 

Section 119. There shall be a state’s 
attorney elected in each county in nineteen 
hundred twenty-four and eve~y four vea~s 
thereafter for a te*rn of four yea's from 
the first Monday of Decembe 1 ' next after 
his election. At the time of his election 
or appointment he must be licensed to 
practice law in this state. 

General Provisions 

Section 120. Laws relating to courts 
having the same jurisdiction and to the 
force and effect of the pr ocess, judgments 
and decrees of such courts severally shall 
be uniform. 

Section 121. The general assembly, 
upon due notice and opportunity for de¬ 
fense and for cause entered upon the jour¬ 
nal of each house, may remove any justice 
or judge upon concurrence in each house 
of three-fourths of its members elected. 
All other officers mentioned in this article 
shall be removed from office on conviction 
for misdemeanor in office. 

Section 122. Provision may be made 
by rule of the supreme court for the bring¬ 
ing of actions or proceedings in which a 
me-ely declaratory judgment or decree or 
order is sought and for authorizing the 
court to make a binding declaration of 
right whether or not any consequential 
relief may be claimed. 

. 

Section 123. Process shall run: In the 
name of the People of the State of Illinois. 
Prosecutions shall be ca ried on: In the 
name and by the authority of the People 
of the State of Illinois; and shall conclude: 
Against the peace and dignity of the Peo¬ 
ple of the State of Illinois. 

Section 124. Justices of the supreme 
court and judges of the appellate and cir¬ 
cuit courts shall be at least thirty-five 
vears of age and for at least ten years"shall 
have been licensed to practice law in this 
state and for such time in this state shall 
have been engaged in the practice of law 
or acted as judicial officers or both. 
Judges of the county courts shall be at 
least thirty years of age and for at least 
five years shall have been licensed and had 
like experience. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 22, Art. 
VI, constitution of 1870, and requires a 
state’s attorney at the time of his election 
to be licensed to p actice law in this state. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
29, Art. VI, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 30, Art. 
VI, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is the same as Sec. 33, Art. 
VI, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of parts of 
Secs. 3 and 17, Art. VI, constitution of 
1870. 











45 


Section 125. Judicial officers shall be 
commissioned by the governor and the 
appointing power to fill vacancies in elec¬ 
tive judicial offices shall be vested in him 
except as otherwise provided herein. 

Section 126. The officers of the judicial 
department shall reside in the district, 
circuit or county for which the}'' are 
respectively elected or appointed. 

Section 127. Justices of the supreme 
court and judges of the appellate, ci-cuit 
and county courts shall be paid salaries by 
the state which shall be uniform for the 
several courts except county courts. In 
the county of Cook judges of the appellate 
and circuit courts shall each receive the 
salary paid such judges respectively in the 
rest of the state and such further compen¬ 
sation from the county of Cook as pro¬ 
vided by law. 

Section 128. No justice of the supreme 
court or judge of any court of record so 
long as he holds such office shall receive 
any compensation, perquisite or benefit 
other than his salary or engage in the 
practice of law. 

Section 129. Whenever the sup-erne 
or appellate court districts are changed 
they shall be formed of contiguous coun¬ 
ties as compact in form and as nearly 
equal in population as may be. No such 
change shall affect the term of any justice 
or judge. 

Section 130. The sup-erne court may 
temporarily assign judges of the appellate 
courts from one district to another and 
judges of the circuit courts from one cir¬ 
cuit to another. 

Section 131. If a judge of anv cb'cuit 
or county court is appointed judge of an 
appellate court, the vacancy so caused in 
the circuit or county court shall be filed 
by appointment by the sup-erne court. 
The judge so appointed to the circuit or 
county court shall serve until his successor 
is elected and qualified. 

ARTICLE VI 

Suffrage and Elections 

Section 132. Excepting only idiots and 
pe-sons adjudged insane or convicted of 
infamous crime and not restored to civil 
rights, every citizen of the United States 
above the age of twenty-one yea- s who has 
resided in the state one year and (unless 
naturalized because of military or naval 


This section is the same as parts of 
Secs. 29 and 32, Art. VI, constitution of 
1870. 


This section covers a part of the same 
subject matter as contained in Sec. 32, 
Art. VI, constitution of 1870, without any 
change in substance. 

This section is a revision of parts of 
Secs. 7, 11, 16, 25 and 32, Art. VI, 

constitution of 1870, and makes the 
salaries of all judges of courts of record, 
except the additional salaries in Cook 
county, payable by the state. 


This section is a revision of parts of 
Secs. 16 and 11, Art. VI, constitution of 
1870. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
5, Art. VI, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is new. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 1, Art. 
VII, constitution of 1870. The word 
“male” in that section of the present con¬ 
stitution is stricken out. 










46 


service) in the United States five years 
shall be a qualified elector. He may vote 
only in the election district and county in 
which he has resided thirty and ninety 
days respectively next before such elec¬ 
tion. 

Section 133. No person shall be deem¬ 
ed to have lost his voting residence be¬ 
cause of absence in the service of the state 
or the United States or to have gained a 
voting residence because he has been 
stationed as a soldier, seaman or marine 
in this state. 

Section 134. Votes shall be by ballot. 


Section 135. Except for treason, felony 
or breach of the peace electors shall be 
privileged from arrest during attendance 
at and in going to and returning from 
elections. Militia duty shall not be 
required of electors on election days 
except in time of war or public danger. 

Section 136. In that part of the sta'se 
outside the county of Cook no final elec¬ 
tion of officers, except justices of the 
supreme court in the district of which the 
county of Cook is a part, shall be held save 
on the first Tue ;day after the first Monday 
of November which shall be a holiday; 
but after the first day of January, nineteen 
hundred twenty-seven, the general assem¬ 
bly by a vote of two-thirds of the members 
elected to each house may provide for the 
election of officers at other times. 

Section 137. Every vacancy in an 
elective office which would continue a year 
or more beyond, the first regular election 
occurring after ninety days shall be filled 
at such election; but such vacancy prior 
to the qualification of the person elected 
and all other vacancies may be filled by 
appointment. 

Section 138. This article shall apply 
to all elections under this constitution or 
other law. 

ARTICLE VII 

Revenue and Finance—Revenue 

Section 139. The power of taxation 
shall never be surrendered, suspended or 
contracted away. All taxes shall be levied 
and collected only under general law and 
for public purposes. Taxes levied for 
state purposes shall never be released, dis¬ 
charged or commuted. The specification 


This section consolidates vSecs. 4 and 5, 
Art. VII, constitution of 1870, without 
making any substantial change. 


This section is the same as Sec. 2, Art. 
VII, constitution of 1870. 

This section is the same as Sec. 3, Art. 
VII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. It provides for a 
single final election day each year (outside 
of Cook county) subject to legislative 
change after January 1, 1927. 


This section is new. 


This section definitely fixes the qualifi¬ 
cations for electors at all elections. 


This section contains the provisions as 
to revenue which are general in their 
nature. The first two sentences of the 
section are new. The rest of the section 
is a revision of Secs. 2 and 6, Art. IX, 
constitution of 1870, without substantial 
change. 










47 


herein of objects and subjects of taxation 
shall not deprive the general assembly of 
the power to require other objects or sub¬ 
jects to be taxed in such manner as may 
be consistent with the principles of 
taxation fixed in this constitution. 

Section 140. Taxes may be imposed 
on privileges, franchises and occupations, 
uniform as to class. 

Section 141. The general assembly 
shall provide for he levying of taxes 
upon property by valuation so that every 
person or corporation shall pay a tax in 
proportion to the value of his or its prop¬ 
erty, such value to be ascertained by 
some person or persons to be elected or 
appointed in such manner as the general 
assembly shall direct and not otherwise. 

Section 142. In lieu of any tax on in¬ 
tangible property or any kind or class 
thereof, by valuation, the general assem¬ 
bly may provide a uniform and substan¬ 
tial ax on the income derived therefrom. 
The rate of such tax shall be uniform on 
all incomes taxed under this section. 


Section 143. A general income tax may 
be imposed upon all net incomes. If such 
income tax is graduated and progressive 
the highest rate shall not exceed three 
times the lowest rate. 

Section 144. Taxes on incomes shall be 
levied and collected only by the state. 
The revenue raised under the general in¬ 
come tax shall be apportioned to the state 
and to the taxing bodies as the general 
assembly may prescribe. Of the revenue 
raised under any income tax imposed 
under section one hundred forty-two of 
this constitution there shall be used for 
state purposes the same percentage as is 
used from the total revenue from taxes by 
valuation and the residue shall be returned 
to the respective counties from which it 
was collected to be distributed among the 
taxing bodies thereof as provided by 
general law. 

Section 145. Exemptions and deduc¬ 
tions may be allowed as follows and not 
otherwise: 

First, the following classes of property 
and the income therefrom may be relieved 
by general law from taxation; (1) public 
property; (2) household furniture used 


This section is a revision of the last part 
of Sec. 1, Art. IX, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same in substance as 
the first part of Sec. 1, Art. IX, constitu¬ 
tion of 1870. 


This section is new. It does not pro¬ 
vide for any additional tax but for an in¬ 
come tax as a substitute for a tax by 
valuation. It provides a method by 
which the large amounts of securities and 
other "intangible” property which have 
heretofore escaped taxation may be reach¬ 
ed for taxation upon a plan which will 
permit the payment of a just tax without 
actual confiscation. 

Secs. 143, 144 and 145 should be con¬ 
sidered together. Sec. 143 does not es¬ 
tablish an income tax but merely permits 
the general assembly to provide such a 
tax in the future if the needs of the state 
require it. Sec. 144 contains certain 
desirable restrictions on the general assem¬ 
bly if that body provides for income taxes. 
Sec. 145 incorporates the exemptions from 
taxation provided in Sec. 3, Art. IX, of the 
constitution of 1870, and also authorizes 
certain additional exemptions. The sec¬ 
tion further permits the general assembly 
to protect the taxpayer against double 
taxation by both a valuation tax and an 
income tax. 







48 


as such up to five hundred dollars in value; 

(3) parsonages owned and used as such; 

(4) property used exclusively for (a) agri¬ 
cultural and horticultural societies not 
organized for pecuniary profit, (b) incor¬ 
porated societies of war veterans, (c) 
cemeteries not held for private profit and 
(d) school, charitable or religious pur¬ 
poses. 

Second, if a general income tax is im¬ 
posed as authorized in section one hun¬ 
dred forty-three of this constitution, the 
general assembly may provide for; (1) an 
exemption of all household furniture and 
implements of agriculture or labor used 
as such without limit as to amount; (2) 
an exemption from income derived from 
personal service of not to exceed one thous¬ 
and dollars to the head of a family plus 
two hundred dollars for each dependent 
child under the age of sixteen yea r s, and 
not to exceed five hundred dollars to any 
other person; (3) such deductions as shall 
compensate for taxes paid on property 
from which the taxed income is derived 
or for income tax paid in lieu of a tax by 
valuation or for taxes paid under section 
one hundred forty of this constitution. 

Section 146. Areas devoted to forests 
or forest culture may be classified for or 
exempted from taxation. 

Section 147. No contract, obligation 
O" liability whatever of the Illinois Central 
Railroad Company to pay any money into 
the state treasury, nor any lien of the 
state upon, or right to tax property of, 
that company, in accordance with the 
provisions of the charter of that company, 
approved February tenth, in the year one 
thousand eight hundred fifty-one, shall 
ever be released, suspended, modified, 
altered, remitted, or in any manner dimin¬ 
ished or impaired by legislative or other 
authority; and all moneys derived from 
that company after the payment of the 
state debt shall be app r opriated and set 
apart for the payment of the ordinary ex¬ 
penses of the state government, and for no 
other purpose whatever. 

Section 148. The general assembly 
may vest the corporate authorities of 
cities, villages, incorporated towns and 
park districts, jointly or severally, with 
power to make local improvements by 
special assessment, by special taxation of 
contiguous property or otherwise. 

Section 149. No owner of real estate 
shall be divested of' title for default in 


This section is new. 


This section is the same as the separate 
section on “Illinois Central Railroad”, 
constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 9, Art. 
IX, constitution of 1870. It permits 
municipalities to join in making local im¬ 
provements. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 5, Art. 
IX, constitution of 1870. 







49 


payment of general or special taxes or 
assessments except upon sale by the 
county treasurer or by forfeiture to the 
state and in either case only after judg¬ 
ment of a court of record entered after 
notice as provided by law. h ot less than 
two years shall be allowed to redeem from 
s ch sale or forfeiture. The general as¬ 
sembly may provide that the holder of a 
tax title based on any tax sale hereafter 
made may waive claim of title to the land 
sold and be subrogated to the lien for the 
tax or assessment for which the sale was 
made and proceed in equity to foreclose 
such lien with additional penalties as pro¬ 
vided by law. 

Section 150. The general assembly 
shall not impose taxes (except income 
taxes as authorized in this article) in 
municipal corporations for corporate pur¬ 
poses but may vest the corporate author¬ 
ities thereof with authority to assess and 
collect taxes for all corporate purposes and 
shall require that all the taxable property 
within the limits of municipal corporations 
shall be taxed for the payment of debts 
contracted under authority of law. Pri¬ 
vate property shall not be liable for such 
debts. Taxes imposed by municipal cor¬ 
porations shall be uniform as to persons 
and p operty. 

Finance 

Section 151. All taxes levied for state 
purposes shall be paid into the state treas¬ 
ury. 

Section 152. No payment of money 
belonging to or for the use of the state 
shall be held to be made to any officer of 
the executive department until evidenced 
by the receipt of the state treasurer. 

Section 153. Each general assembly 
shall make appropriations for the expenses 
of the government for a period of two 
years from the first day of July of the 
year in which it convenes. After such 
appropriations have been made the aggre¬ 
gate amount thereof shall not be increased 
except by a vote of two-thirds of the 
members elected to each house. All ap¬ 
propriations for any such two year period 
shall end with the period except that 
obligations incurred during the period 
may be paid within three months there¬ 
after. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 9 (in 
part) and Sec. 10, Art. IX, constitution 
of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 7, Art. 
IX, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
18, Art. IV, constitution of 1870, which 
provides: 

Each General Assembly shall provide 
for all the appropriations necessary for 
the ordinary and contingent expenses 
of the government until the expiration 
of the first fiscal quarter after the ad¬ 
journment of the next regular session, 
the aggregate amount of which shall not 
be increased without a vote of two- 
thirds of the members elected to each 
house, nor exceed the amount of revenue 
authorized by law to be raised in such 
time; and all appropriations, general or 
special, requiring money to be paid out 
of the State treasury, from funds belong¬ 
ing to the State, shall end with such 
fiscal quarter. 










50 


Section 154. No money shall be drawn 
from the state treasury except under an 
appropriation made by law and on presen¬ 
tation of a warrant issued by the auditor 
of public accounts. 

Section 155. The state may contract 
debts (a) for meeting casual deficits in 
revenue up to one million dollars, (b) for 
defense in war, suppressing insurrection 
or repelling invasion and (c) for the deep 
waterway as provided in this constitution. 
Money so borrowed shall be applied only 
to the purpose for which it is obtained or 
for the payment of the debts thus created. 
No other debt shall be contracted by the 
state unless the law authorizing it is 
approved by a majority of those voting 
for members of the house of representa¬ 
tives at a general election. The general 
assembly shall provide for the publication 
of any such law for at least three months 
before the election. Provision shall be 
made when the debt is contracted for the 
annual payment of interest either by a 
tax to be levied for the purpose or by set¬ 
ting aside other revenues. Any law pro¬ 
viding for such tax shall be submitted in 
like manner with the law authorizing the 
debt and if approved shall be irrepealable. 

Section 156. No county, town or 
school district shall become indebted in 
the aggregate including its existing debt 
to an amount exceeding five per cent, and 
no municipal corporation to an amount 
exceeding six per cent, of the value of the 
taxable property therein as ascertained by 
the last assessment for state and county 
taxes previous to incurring the debt. The 
corporate body incurring any such debt 
before or at the time of doing so shall 
provide for the collection of a direct 
annual tax sufficient to pay the interest 
on the debt and to pay the principal 
thereof in substantially equal annual in¬ 
stallments within twenty years. But 
provision may be made before or at the 
time of incurring the debt for the payment 
of any part of it before maturity. This 
section shall not apply to or within the 
county of Cook. 

Section 157. Except as otherwise pro¬ 
vided in this constitution the money or 
or credit of the state shall never be used 
in aid of any public or private corporation, 
association or person. 

Section 158. Claims against the state 
under agreements made without express 
authority of law shall be void except 


This section is a revision of the first part 
of Sec. 17, Art. IV, constitution of 1870, 
without change in substance. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
18, Art. IV, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 12, Art. 
IX, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 20, 
Art. IV, constitution of 1870, without 
change in substance. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 19, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870, without change 
in substance. 







51 


claims for expense incurred for defense in 
war, suppressing insurrection or repelling 
invasion. 

Section 159. Except in payment of 
temporary rent, of temporary hospital 
service, of purchase price or (in the event 
and only in the event that public institu¬ 
tions or agencies are not adequate or 
available) of not to exceed the cost of tem¬ 
porarily maintaining and supporting dur¬ 
ing their terms of commitment, neglected, 
defective, dependent or delinquent per¬ 
sons committed by courts of competent 
jurisdiction to institutions or agencies 
under public inspection, no public money 
shall be paid or other public property be 
given or applied for any sectarian purpose 
or to any institution controlled by a 
church or sect. 


ARTICLE VIII 

Local Governments 
Counties 

Section 160. In each county the fol¬ 
lowing county officers shall be elected: 
a sheriff, a county clerk, a treasurer who 
shall be ex officio collector of taxes until 
otherwise provided by law, a coroner, a 
clerk of the circuit court and, in counties 
of sixty thousand population or more, a 
recorder of deeds. 

Section 161. In each county there may 
be a county superintendent of schools 
whose qualifications, time and manner of 
election or appointment, term of office, 
power, duties and compensation shall be 
prescribed by law. . 


Section 162. The sheriff, the county 
clerk and the treasurer shall be elected in 
nineteen hundred twenty-six and every 
four years thereafter, and the coroner, the 
clerk of the circuit court and the recorder 
of deeds in nineteen hundred twenty-four 
and every four years thereafter, each for 
a term of four years. In counties not 
under township organization a commis¬ 
sioner shall be elected in nineteen hundred 
twenty-three and each year thereafter for 
a term of three years. The term of every 
elective county officer shall begin on the 
first Monday of December next after his 
election. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 3, Art. 

VIII, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

Neither the General Assembly nor 
any county, city, town, township, school 
district or other public corporation 
shall ever make any appropriation, or 
pay from any public fund whatever, 
anything in aid of any church or sec¬ 
tarian purpose, or to help support or 
sustain any school, academy, seminary, 
college, university or other literary or 
scientific institution, controlled by any 
church or sectarian denomination what¬ 
ever; nor shall any grant or donation 
of land, money or other personal proper¬ 
ty ever be made by the State or any 
such public corporation to any church 
or for any sectarian purpose. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
8, Art. X, constitution of 1870. 

For provisions concerning the judge of 
the’county court, see Sec. 127 of the new 
constitution. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 5, Art. 
VIII, constitution of 1870, which provides: 
There may be a county superinten¬ 
dent of schools in each county, whose 
qualifications, powers, duties, compen¬ 
sation and time and manner of election 
and term of office shall be prescribed by 
law. 

This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
8, Art. X, constitution of 1870. 




Section 163. The board of supervisors 
in counties under township organization, 


This section is new. 









) 


52 


the county commissioners of the county 
of Cook and the county commissioners in 
counties not under township organization 
shall constitute the county board of their 
respective counties. 

Section 164. No elected county treas¬ 
urer shall succeed himself. 


Section 165. Fees of county and town 
officers, as provided by law, shall be uni¬ 
form as to classes of counties or towns and 
for this purpose there shall not be more 
than three classes of counties. 

Section 166. The organization and 
government of and offices in counties as 
p ovided in this constitution may be 
changed by law uniform as to classes of 
counties; but any such law shall become 
effective in a county only after approval 
by a majority of those voting on the 
question. 

Section 167. No county may abandon 
or adopt any form of organization unless 
a majority of those voting on the question 
shall approve the change. 

Section 168. No county shall be chang¬ 
ed in area unless the change is approved 
by a majority of those voting on the ques¬ 
tion in each county and each part affected. 
Anv te r ritory taken from a county shall 
be liable for its proportion of the debt of 
* such county. 

Section 169. No county seat shall be 
removed unless three-fourths of those 
voting on the question shall approve the 
removal to the place designated except 
that a majority only shall be required to 
remove a county seat nearer to the center 
of the county. No person shall vote on 
the question unless he has resided in the 
election precinct ninety days and in the 
county six months nekt preceding the 
election. Such question shall not be sub¬ 
mitted oftener than once in ten years. 

Counties other than the County of Cook 

Section 170. There shall be an assessor 
in each county to. be selected as provided 
by law. The county clerk shall be ex 
officio clerk of the county court. In 


This section is a revision of pa~t of Sec. 
8, Art. X, constitution of 1870, which 
provides: 

that no person having once been elected 
to the office of sheriff or treasurer shall 
be eligible to re-election to said office 
for four years after the expiration of 
the term for which he shall have been 
elected. 

This section is a revision of Secs. 11 and 
12, Art. X, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is new. 


This section is a revision of Secs. 2 and 
3, Art. X, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 4, Art. 
X, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
8, Art. X, constitution of 1870. 












53 


counties of less than sixty thousand popu¬ 
lation the clerk of the circuit court shall 
be ex officio recorder of deeds. In coun¬ 
ties of fifty thousand population or more 
an auditor may be selected as provided by 
law. 

Section 171. The compensation of all 
county officers (except the county super¬ 
intendent of schools) and the number and 
compensation of their employees shall be 
fixed by the county board and paid by the 
county treasurer on the order of the 
county board. 


Section 172. No county shall be so 
created or reduced as to contain less than 
four hundred square miles nor shall any 
part of a county within ten miles of its 
seat be taken for a new county. 

Section 173. Unless authorized by a 
majority of those voting at an election no 
county shall levy taxes in excess of three- 
fourths of one per cent of valuation. But 
in case a county is made the unit for the 
levy and collection of taxes for road and 
bridge purposes an additional amount not 
exceeding three-fourths of one per cent 
of valuation for such purposes may be 
levied which may be increased when 
authorized by a majority of those voting 
at an election. 

This and the three preceding sections 
shall not apply to the county of Cook. 

County of Cook 

Section 174. The county business of 
the county of Cook shall be transacted by 
a board of fifteen commissioners, ten of 
whom shall be elected from the city of 
Chicago and five from the rest of the 
county. 

Section 175. Each county officer in 
the county of Cook shall receive as his 
sole compensation a salary to be fixed by 
law. Such salary shall be less than the 
compensation of a judge of the. circuit 
court of the county. The circuit court 
by rule entered of record shall determine 
the number and the county board shall 
determine the compensation of deputies 
and assistants of the sheriff, treasurer, cor¬ 
oner, recorder of deeds and clerk of the 
circuit court. 

Section 176. The general assembly 
may consolidate with the city of Chicago 
the portion of the county of Cook lying 
within the city. Any law providing there- 


This section is a revision of Sec. 10, Art. 
X, constitution of 1870, which provides: 
The county board, except as provided 
in section nine of this article, shall fix 
the compensation of all county officers, 
with the amount of their necessary clerk 
hire, stationery, fuel and other expen¬ 
ses, * * * 

This section is the same as Sec. 1, Art. 
X, constitution of 1870. 


i 

This section is a revision of Sec. 8, Art. 
IX, constitution of 1870. The second and 
third sentence are new. 


This section is the same as Sec. 7, Art. 
X, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is new. _ 









54 


for shall adjust the powers, offices, rights 
and liabilities of the county (both in the 
portion within the city and in the portion 
outside the city) and may either devolve 
them in whole or in part upon the city or 
provide otherwise for their exercise and 
assumption. Whenever the entire powers 
of any office are taken away the office shall 
be abolished. No such law shall take 
effect until approved both in the city of 
Chicago and in the portion of the county 
lying outside the city by a majority of 
those voting on the question. 

Section 177. Unless authorized by a 
majority of those voting on the question 
at an election the county of Cook shall 
never levy taxes in excess of three-fourths 
of one per cent of valuation except such 
additional taxes as may have been author¬ 
ized prior to the adoption of this constitu¬ 
tion. 

City of Chicago 

Section 178. Except as expressly pro¬ 
hibited by law the city of Chicago is here¬ 
by declared to possess for all municipal 
purposes full and complete power of local 
self-government and corporate action. 
This grant of power shall be liberally con¬ 
strued and no power of local self-govern¬ 
ment or corporate action shall be denied 
the city by reason of not being specified 
herein. The city however may impose 
taxes and borrow money only as author¬ 
ized by the general assembly or by this ar¬ 
ticle. Until otherwise provided by the city 
charter the powers heretofore granted the 
city shall be preserved and exercised in 
accordance with law and the additional 
powers granted by this section shall be 
exercised by or in accordance with city . 
ordinances. 

Section 179. The legislative authority 
of the city of Chicago, from time to time 
and after approval of the proposition at an 
election in such manner as it may provide, 
may call an elective convention to frame 
a new city charter or to revise or amend 
any existing charter. The proposals of 
any such convention shall be submitted to 
the voters for adoption in the manner 
provided by it. Subsequent amendments 
may also be proposed and submitted to 
the voters in such manner as the charter 
may provide. State election laws and the 
powers and duties existing thereunder 
shall be available for the purposes of this 
section. The charter so framed, revised 
or amended and ordinances passed there¬ 
under sh&fl pVeV&fl oVer ^tkte faW3 $o far 


This section is the same as Sec. 8, Art. 
IX, constitution of 1870, limited to Cook 
county. 


Secs. 178 to 193 inclusive are concerned 
with what has been called “Chicago Home 
Rule’’. There are no corresponding pro¬ 
visions in the constitution of 1870 except 
those found in Sec. 34, Art. IV, that sec¬ 
tion having been added as an amendment 
in 1904. 

The new sections speak for themselves. 
In general terms it may be said they re¬ 
move from the jurisdiction of the general 
assembly and vest in the authorities of the 
city of Chicago, so far as possible, all ques¬ 
tions which affect the city above and do 
not concern the rest of the state. These 
new provisions are discussed at some 
length in the Address to the People 
(pp. 16-17), to which attention is directed. 


See note above. 






55 


as the organization of the city govern¬ 
ment, the distribution of powers among 
its official agencies and the tenure and 
compensation of its officers and employees 
are concerned. Rates of compensation as 
well as conditions of appointment and 
promotion in the classified civil service of 
the city shall be determined according to 
a general plan which shall recognize merit 
and fitness as controlling principles. A 
certified copy of such charter or any 
amendment thereto shall be filed with the 
secretary of state within thirty days after 
its adoption. 

Section 180. The city of Chicago shall 
have power to take in fee simple or other¬ 
wise or damage private property (includ¬ 
ing public utilities and the privileges or 
licenses held in connection therewith) for 
public use in accordance with law. 

Section 181. The city of Chicago, sub¬ 
ject to regulation by general law, may 
own, acquire, construct, operate, sell, 
pledge, lease or let public utilities or buy 
or sell the service thereof. 

Section 182. The general assembly 
may enact local or special laws relating to 
the municipal affairs of the city of Chicago 
but such laws shall not take effect until 
the city consents. A law which at the 
time of its enactment is applicable to the 
municipal affairs of no other city than the 
city of Chicago shall be deemed a local or 
special law. 

Section 183. The consent of the city 
of Chicago whenever required by this 
article shall be expressed by ordinance but 
the general assembly, the city charter or 
the ordinance may prescribe in addition 
approval of the ordinance by the voters. 

Section 184. The consent of the city 
of Chicago shall be required for the crea¬ 
tion, enlargement or consolidation of any 
municipal corporation (except a county) 
exercising taxing powers within the city 
or for any increase of the taxing powers of 
any such municipal corporation hereafter 
created or enlarged. No ordinance ex¬ 
pressing consent to the creation, enlarge¬ 
ment or consolidation of any municipal 
corporation shall take effect until ninety 
days after its enactment and if within that 
time either five thousand voters or one- 
third of the legislative authority of the city 
petition that body to submit the question 
at an election the ordinance shall not take 
effect until approved by a majority of 
those voting on the question. 


See note above. 


See note above. 


See note above. 


See note above. 


See note above. 









56 


Section 185. The charter framed, re¬ 
vised or amended under section one hun¬ 
dred seventy-nine of this constitution may 
provide: 

(a) For the consolidation with the city 
of Chicago of any or all local governments 
or other authorities (in whole or in part) 
now or hereafter exercising powers con¬ 
fined to the city limits; and also of that 
part of any town (partly within and partly 
without the city) now or hereafter lying 
within the city limits. After consolida¬ 
tion with the city of any town (or part 
thereof) the powers of all officers therein 
relating to collection of taxes shall be 
exercised by the county treasurer until 
otherwise provided by law. 

(b) For the consolidation with the city 
of Chicago of the Sanitary District of Chi¬ 
cago and the Forest Preserve District of 
Cook County, or either of them. No con¬ 
solidation of either of such districts shall 
take effect until approved at an election 
by a majority of these voting on the ques¬ 
tion both in the district and in the city. 
The question of consolidation of either 
district shall be submitted to the voters 
thereof as a separate proposition and the 
election officials responsible for conducting 
elections therein shall submit the question 
in the manner provided by the charter. 
The city shall exercise no taxing power 
outside its limits by virtue of consolidating 
either district. Upon consolidation of the 
Sanitary District of Chicago with the city 
of Chicago and until otherwise provided 
by law, the city shall furnish without 
charge sewage disposal service beyond its 
limits in the district, to the extent then 
furnished by the district; and the city 
may be required by law to furnish at cost 
additional or increased sewage disposal 
service in such territory. All duties or 
obligations imposed by law at the time of 
such consolidation for the benefit of the 
inhabitants of such territory or any part 
thereof upon the city or the Sanitary 
District of Chicago with respect to other 
forms of service shall be assumed by the 
city unless it is relieved therefrom by the 
general assembly. 

Any authority consolidated with the 
city of Chicago under this section shall 
be abolished and the city shall succeed to 
all the powers, property and liabilities 
thereof. If any consolidation proposed 
under this section fails to be approved at 
any election, the question may be resub¬ 
mitted from time to time in the manner 
provided by the charter. 


See note above. 







57 


Section 186. After any consolidation 
authorized by the foregoing section has 
taken effect and until a new tax rate is 
fixed by law, the city of Chicago may levy 
an additional annual tax equal to the 
amount of taxes caused to be extended by 
the authority so consolidated upon the 
collector’s warrants in the year last pre¬ 
ceding consolidation. 

Section 187. The rights of the city of 
Chicago under the Act for the Consolida¬ 
tion of Local Governments, approved 
June twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred fif¬ 
teen, or any amendment thereof are not 
affected by this article. 

Section 188. The general assembly 
may provide other methods for consolidat¬ 
ing local authorities with the city of Chi¬ 
cago subject to its consent. 

Section 189. After any consolidation 
authorized by this article has taken effect 
the city of Chicago may become indebted 
in the aggregate up to seven per cent of 
the full value of the taxable real property 
therein as ascertained by the last assess¬ 
ment for state and county taxes previous 
to incurring the debt. In computing such 
aggregate amount there shall be included 
the existing indebtedness < f the city and 
of all municipal corporations within the 
city and also the city’s proportionate share 
(determined according to valuation of 
taxable real property) of the existing in¬ 
debtedness of all municipal corporations 
partly within and partly without the city. 

Section 190. Neither the county of 
Cook nor any city, tow r n, school district 
or other municipal corporation in the 
county shall become indebted in the aggre¬ 
gate including its existing debt to an 
amount exceeding seven per cent of the 
value of the taxable real property therein 
as ascertained by the last assessment for 
state and county taxes previous to incur¬ 
ring the debt. The corporate body incur-, 
ring any such debt, before or at the time 
of so doing, shall provide for the collection 
of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the 
interest on the debt and to pay the princi¬ 
pal thereof in equal annual installments 
within twenty years. But provision may 
be made at the time of incurring the debt 
for the payment of any part of it before 
maturity. 

Section 191. The city of Chicago shall 
incur no new bonded indebtedness 
(except for refunding purposes) without 
the approval at an election of a majority 
of those voting on the question. 


See note above. 


See note above. 


See note above. 


See note above. 


See note above. 


See note above. . 









58 


Section 192. The city of Chicago may 
issue bonds (in addition to any debt other¬ 
wise permitted by this constitution) for 
the purpose of acquiring, leasing, con¬ 
structing or operating income-producing 
property for supplying transportation or 
water. At or before the time of issuing 
any such bonds the city shall provide for 
the collection of a direct annual tax suffi¬ 
cient to pay the interest thereon and the 
principal thereof within forty years. Un¬ 
less otherwise provided in the ordinance 
authorizing the issuance of any bonds for 
financing any such income-producing pub¬ 
lic utility, such bonds shall be held to be 
issued under the foregoing provisions of 
this section. 

The city having issued bonds under the 
provisions of this section, thereafter at 
least four months before any tax for the 
payment of the principal and interest of 
any such bonds or for the payment of the 
principal and interest of any other indebt¬ 
edness incurred for financing the same 
utility becomes collectible by law, shall 
deposit with the city treasurer, out of the 
gross ear.nings or the rentals of the utility 
for financing which the debt to be dis¬ 
charged by any such tax was incurred, a 
sum equal in amount to such tax. The 
money so deposited shall be used only to 
pay such principal and interest. To the 
extent that such funds are deposited prior 
to the collection of any such tax it shall 
not be collected. 

The city having issued bonds under the 
provisions of this section shall thereafter 
establish and maintain such rates or 
charges for the service supplied or such 
rentals if the property is let for private 
operation as may be necessary to provide 
at least sufficient revenue to pay (a) the 
principal and interest of all outstanding 
bonded or other indebtedness incurred for 
financing such utility and (b) the cost or 
expense involved in or incidental .to the 
ownership, operation or maintenance of 
such utility, including taxes, assessments 
and reserves for repairs and renewals 
necessary to maintain the property in 
first-class condition. 

Any taxpayer of the city shall have the 
right, which shall not be exclusive in him, 
to enforce the provisions of this section by 
appropriate proceedings in the circuit 
court of the county. That court shall 
enforce the provisions of this section and 
for such purpose shall have all necessary 
powers including the power to regulate the 
service supplied by any such utility. 


See note above. 


n 


* 







59 


Section 193. Each issue of bonds or 
other securities by the city for financing 
any income-producing public utility shall 
be payable in substantially equal annual 
installments of principal and interest com¬ 
bined, beginning not more than five years 
from the date thereof. But provision may 
be made at the time of incurring the debt 
for the payment of any part of it before 
maturity. No such bonds or other secu¬ 
rities shall be issued without the approval 
at an election of a majority of those voting 
on the question. The city of Chicago if 
it owns or operates any such public utility 
shall conform to the same requirements 
for keeping accounts and for the audit 
thereof and for making reports as are 
prescribed by law for a like utility private¬ 
ly owned. 

If the city of Chicago constructs or 
acquires a subway or other property for 
transportation purposes, it may let the 
p"*opeUy to an operating company but 
• only for such period of time as may be 
approved at an election in the city by a 
majority of those voting on the question. 

Publicly owned income-producing prop¬ 
erty of the city of Chicago (or of anv local 
government or authority exercising powers 
within the limits of the citv) used for 
supplying transportation shall be taxed 
in the same manner as privately owned 
property used for a like purpose, notwith¬ 
standing any other provision in this con¬ 
stitution. 

Laws may be passed in aid of this and 
the preceding section. 

ARTICLE IX 
Public Servants 

Section 194. An office is a public posi¬ 
tion created by the constitution or law 
continuing during the pleasure of the 
appointing power or for a fixed time with 
a successor elected or appointed. An em¬ 
ployment is an agency for a temporary 
purpose which ceases when that purpose 
is accomplished. 

Section 195. To hold any office created 
by this constitution a person shall be a 
citizen of the United States, resident in 
this state one year and able to read and 
write the English language. 

Section 196. No person shall hold any 
public office who has been convicted of an 
infamous crime or is in default as collector 
or holder of public money or if he holds 
any office under the United States (except 
as a postmaster whose annual compensa¬ 
tion does not exceed three hundxetl 
dbllars} 'or rnttfer ai fUiUign gbVbVnntfe'nfi. 


See note above. 


This section is the same as Sec. 24, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 6, Art. 
VII, constitution of 1870, requiring as an 
additional qualification for any office 
created by the new constitution ability to 
read and write the English language. 

This section is the same as parts of 
Secs. 4 and 3, Art. IV, and Sec. 11, Art. 
IX, constitution of 1870. 








60 


Section 197. All civil officers except 
members of the general assembly and such 
inferior officers as may be exempted by 
law, before they enter upon the duties of 
their respective offices shall take and sub¬ 
scribe the following oath or affirmation: 

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I 
will support the constitution of the 
United States and the constitution of the 
State of Illinois and that I will faithfully 

discharge the duties of the office of. 

.to the best of my ability. 

No other oath, declaration or test shall 
be required as a qualification. 

Section 198. All public officers shall 
hold office until their successors have 
qualified. 


Section 199. No public officer shall 
have his term extended by law after his 
election or appointment. 

« 

Section 200. No legislative, executive 
or judicial officer and no officer of any 
county shall receive to his own use any 
fees, fines, costs, perquisites, percentages, 
interest, benefits, emoluments or allow¬ 
ances. 

Section 201. No public officer shall 
have his compensation increased or dimin¬ 
ished during his term. 

Section 202. No extra compensation 
or allowance shall be given by law to any 
public officer, employee or contractor after 
service has been rendered or contract 
made. 

Section 203. Every public officer shall 
make a report under oath at least semi¬ 
annually to some official to be designated 
by law of all fines, fees, costs, perquisites 
of office or public moneys collected. 
Every such officer shall pay at least 
monthly to some official designated by law 
all public moneys and interest thereon 
received by or for him. 

Section 204. No officer of this state 
shall be beneficially interested directly or 
indirectly in any contract with the state. 
No officer of any subdivision of the state 
or of any municipal corporation or of any 
board or commission shall be beneficially 
interested directly or indirectly in any 
contract with the particular body of 
which he is an officer. 


This section is the same as Sec. 25, Art. 
V, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of parts of 
Secs. 1 and 2, Art. V, and parts of Secs. 
32 and 23, Art. VI, constitution of 1870, 
and extends the provision to all public 
officers. 

This section is the same as Sec. 28, Art. 
IV, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of part of Sec. 
21, Art. IV, part of Sec. 23, Art. V, and 
part of Sec. 16, Art. VI, constitution of 
1870, and extends the restrictions to 
county officers. 


This section is the same as parts of Sec. 
21, Art. IV, Sec. 23, Art. V, Sec. 7, Art. 
VI, Sec. 11, Art. IX, Sec. 10, Art X, con¬ 
stitution of 1870. 

This section is the same as part of Sec. 
19, Art. IV, constitution of 1870. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 13, Art. 
X, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

Every person who is elected or ap¬ 
pointed to any office in this State, who 
shall be paid in whole or in part by fees, 
shall be required by law to make a semi¬ 
annual report, under oath, to some 
officer to be designated by law, of all 
his fees and emoluments. 

This section is a revision of parts of 
Secs. 25 and 15, Art. IV, constitution of 
1870, which provide: 

Sec. 25. * * * no member there¬ 

of (general assembly), or other officer of 
the State shall be interested, directly or 
indirectly, in such contract. 

Sec. 15. * * * nor shall any 

member of the General Assembly be 












61 


Section 205. No statute of limitation 
shall begin to run in favor of a public 
officer until an audit of his accounts has 
been made as provided by law. 

Section 206. Any public officer or 
employee or his beneficiary may be given 
by law a vested interest in the accumu¬ 
lated portion of any death, disability or 
retirement fund to which he is required by 
law to contribute a part of his compensa¬ 
tion; but such interest shall attach only 
to the fund accumulated and shall impose 
no obligation on the state to create or 
maintain such fund. 

Section 207. All laws of the State of 
Illinois and all official writings and legis¬ 
lative, executive and judicial proceedings 
shall be conducted, preserved and publish¬ 
ed in no other than the English language; 
but this shall not prevent the use of abbre¬ 
viations in the files and records of judicial 
proceedings. 

ARTICLE X 
Education 

Section 208. The general assembly 
shall provide a thorough and efficient sys¬ 
tem of free schools whereby all children 
of this state may receive a good common 
school education. 

Section 209. The general assembly 
shall make adequate provision for the 
maintenance and development of the 
University of Illinois and the system of 
state normal schools. 

Section 210. Property received for 
public education and the proceeds of such 
property shall not be diverted to another 
purpose except that by consent of the 
school officers holding legal title special 
assessments may be levied on school 
property. 

Section 211. No school officer shall be 
financially interested in any contract con¬ 
cerning any school with which he is con¬ 
nected or in any book, apparatus or fur¬ 
niture used in such school. 


interested, either directly or indirectly, 
in any contract with the State, or any 
county thereof, authorized by any law 
passed during the term for which he 
shall have been elected, or within one 
year after the expiration thereof. 

This section is new. 


This section is new. Notwithstanding 
the provisions of Sec. 202, ante , this section 
permits the establishment and mainte¬ 
nance of public pension funds upon a 
sound business basis, and to that extent 
may be construed as an exception to the 
provisions of said Sec. 202. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 18, 
Schedule, constitution of 1870. The last 
clause is new. 


This section is the same as Sec. 1, Art. 
VIII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 2, Art. 
VIII, constitution of 1870. It allows 
special assessments to be levied on school 
property with the consent of the school 
officers. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 4, Art. 
VIII, constitution of 1870, which pro¬ 
vides: 

No teacher, State, county, township 
or district school officer shall be inter¬ 
ested in the sale, porceeds or profits of 
any book, apparatus or furniture, used 
or to be used in any school in this State, 
with which such officer or teacher may 
be connected, under such penalties as 
may be provided by the General As¬ 
sembly. 












62 


ARTICLE XI 
Militia 

Section 212. The militia of the State 
of Illinois shall consist of all able-bodied 
male persons resident in the state between 
the ages of eighteen and forty-five, except 
such persons as now are or hereafter may 
be exempted by the laws of the United 
States or of this state. No person, be¬ 
cause of conscientious scruples against 
bearing arms, shall be exempted by the 
laws of this state from any military service 
declared by the governor to be noncom¬ 
batant. 

Section 213. All militia officers shall 
be commissioned by the governor and may 
hold their commissions for such time as 
the general assembly may provide. 

Section 214. Members of the organized 
militia in all cases except treason, felony 
or breach of the peace shall be privileged, 
from arrest during their attendance at and 
in going to and returning from musters 
and military elections. 

Section 215. The military records, 
banners and relics of the state shall be 
preserved as enduring memorials of the 
patriotism and valor of. the men of Illinois. 

ARTICLE XII 

Warehouses and Common Carriers 

Section 216. Elevators and store¬ 
houses where property is stored for com¬ 
pensation are public warehouses. 

Section 217. The manager of every 
public wa ehouse in cities of over one 
hundred thousand population, or such 
population as mav be provided by law, 
shall post conspicuously each week in the 
office of the wa-ehouse a sworn statement 
of the amount and grade of g^ain and also 
of the other property stored therein and 
of the warehouse receipts outstanding and 
shall f.le a copv of the statement in a place 
designated by law. Changes in quantity 
and grade of grain stored shall be noted 
daily upon the statement in the warehouse. 
Unless the owner or consignee consents 
different grades of grain shipped in sepa¬ 
rate lots shall not be mixed. 

Section 218. The holder of a public 
warehouse receipt may always examine 
the property and the warehouse records 
thereof. 

Section 219. Railroads and other com¬ 
mon carriers shall, at the point of ship- 


This section comprises Secs. 1 and 6, 
Art. XII, constitution of 1870. It is a 
revision as to Sec. 6, Art. XII. 


This section is the same as Sec. 3, Art. 
XII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 4, Art. 
XII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 5, Art. 
XII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 1, Art- 
XIII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 2, Art. 
XIII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 3, Art. 
XIII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 4, Art. 
XIII, constitution of 1870. 










63 


ment, weigh or measure and receipt for the 
full amount of grain and deliver it to the 
consignee or owner. 

Section 220. Railroads shall deliver 
grain to anv consignee who can he reached 
by an available track and shall permit 
connections so that any public warehouse, 
coal bank or coal yard may be reached by 
cars. 

Section 221. It shall be the duty of 
the general assembly to pass all necessary 
laws to p-event the issue of false and fraud¬ 
ulent wa-ehouse receipts and to give full 
effect to this article, which shall be liberally 
construed to protect producers and ship¬ 
pers. The enumeration of remedies here¬ 
in shall not be construed to deny to the 
general assembly the power to prescribe 
by law such other remedies as may be 
found expedient or to deprive any person 
of existing common law remedies. 

Section 222. The general assembly 
shall pass daws for the inspection of grain 
and for the protection of producers, ship¬ 
pers and receivers of grain and produce. 

Section 223. Railroads are he r eby 
declared public high wavs and shall be 
free to all for the transportation of persons 
and property under such regulations as 
may be prescribed by law. The general 
assembly shall from time to time pass 
laws establishing reasonable maximum 
rates for the transportation of passengers 
and freight thereon. 

Section 224. The general assembly 
shall pass laws to correct abuses and 
prevent unjust discrimination and extor¬ 
tion in the rates of freight and passenger 
tariffs on the different railroads in this 
state and enforce such laws by adequate 
penalties to the extent if necessary of for¬ 
feitures of their property and franchises. 

Section 225. Nothing in the two pre¬ 
ceding sections shall be construed to limit 
the powers of the general assembly. 

Section 226. The owner shall retain 
the fee of land taken for railroad tracks 
without his consent. 

* 

Section 227. Rolling stock and other 
movable property of common carriers 
shall be subject to execution sale. 


^ This section is the same as Sec. 5, Art 
XIII, constitution of 1870. 


^ This section is the same as Sec. 6, Art. 
XIII, constitution of 1870. 


0 


This section is the same as Sec. 7, Art. 
XIII, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 12, Art. 
XI, constitution of 1870. 


This section is the same as Sec. 15, Art. 
XT, constitution of 1870. 


This section is new. 


This section is the same as the last sen¬ 
tence ok Sec. 13, Art. II, constitution of 
1870. 

This section is the same as Sec. 10, Art. 
XI, constitution of 1870. 












64 


ARTICLE XIII 

Canals and Waterways 

Section 228. In addition to the pro¬ 
ceeds of the twenty million dollars of 
bonds heretofore authorized for the deep 
waterway, ten million dollars may be ap¬ 
propriated therefor and all or part thereof 
secured by issuing bonds. The state 
shall make no other expenditure for any 
canal or waterway or appurtenance 
thereto except from the income thereof 
unless the expenditure is approved by a 
majority of all those voting at a general 
election. 

Section 229. Except as provided in 
this article no waterway or canal owned 
or improved by the state shall be sold or 
leased until the proposition therefor is 
approved by a majority of those voting at 
a general election. 

Section 230. The general assembly 
may authorize the lease of the Illinois and 
Michigan Canal or any part thereof to 
provide terminals in connection with the 
Illinois Waterway or other navigable 
channels. Such terminals shall be for 
public use without discrimination. 

Section 231. Leases of state canals 
and waterways and of state property held 
in connection therewith including water 
power shall be subject to revaluation 
every twenty years. 

ARTICLE XIV 

Amendments to the Constitution 

Section 232. Whenever two-thirds of 
the members of each house of the general 
assembly by a vote entered upon the 
journals concur that a convention is neces¬ 
sary to revise, alter or amend the consti¬ 
tution, the question shall be submitted 
to the electors at the next general election. 
If a majority voting at the election vote 
for a convention, the general assembly at 
the next session shall provide for a con¬ 
vention to consist of twice the number of 
members of the senate to be elected in the 
same manner, at the same places and in 
the same districts as senators, plus seven 
members to be elected at large from the 
county of Cook. The general assembly 
in the act calling the convention shall 
designate the day, hour and place of its 
meeting, fix the pay of its members and 
officers and provide for their payment 
and for the expenses necessarily incurred 
by the convention in the performance of 
its duties. Before entering upon their 
duties the members shall take an oath to 


This section and the others of this 
article are revisions of separate section, 
“Canal,” Amendment of 1908, present 
constitution. This section permits the 
general assembly to appropriate an ad¬ 
ditional $10,000,000 for the deep water¬ 
way. Further expenditures for canals or 
waterways are permitted only upon a 
referendum. 


This section makes no change except to 
accommodate the provisions of Sec. 230. 
See separate section, “Canal,” Amend¬ 
ment of 1908, present constitution. 


This section is new. 


This section makes no change in the 
corresponding provision of separate 
section, “Canal,” Amendment of 1908, 
present constitution. 


This section is a revision of Sec. 1, Art. 

XIV, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

Whenever two-thirds of the members 
of each house of the General Assembly 
shall, by a vote entered upon the jour¬ 
nals thereof, concur that a convention 
is necessary to revise, alter or amend 
the Constitution, the question shall be 
submitted to the electors at the next 
general election. If a majority voting 
at the election vote for a convention, 
the General Assembly shall, at the next 
session, provide for a convention, to 
consist of double the number of mem¬ 
bers of the Senate, to be elected in the 
same manner, at the same places and in 
the same districts. The General As¬ 
sembly shall, in the Act calling the 
convention, designate the day, hour and 
place of its meeting, fix the pay of its 
members and officers, and provide for 
the payment of the same, together with 
the expenses necessarily incurred by the 
convention in the performance of its 







65 


support the constitution of the United 
States and the constitution of Illinois and 
to discharge faithfully their duties as 
members of the convention. The quali¬ 
fications of members shall be the same as 
those of senators and vacancies shall be 
filled in the manner provided for filling 
vacancies in the general assembly. The 
convention shall meet within three months 
after the election and prepare such revi¬ 
sion, alteration or amendments of the con¬ 
stitution as it deems necessary. Such 
revision, alteration or amendments shall 
be submitted to the electors for their 
ratification or rejection at an election 
appointed by the convention for that pur¬ 
pose not less than two months nor more 
than six months after its adjournment. 
Unless so submitted and approved by a 
majority of those voting at the election 
no such revision, alteration or amendment 
shall take effect. 


Section 233. Amendments to the con¬ 
stitution may be proposed in either house 
of the general assembly and if voted for by 
two-thirds of the members elected to each 
house such proposed amendments together 
w r ith the yeas and nays of each house 
thereon shall be entered in full upon their 
respective journals. Such amendments 
shall be submitted in the manner pre¬ 
scribed by law to the electors for adoption 
or rejection at the next election for mem¬ 
bers of the general assembly and shall be 
published in full at least three months 
before the election. If electors equal in 
number to a majority of the votes cast for 
members of the house of representatives 
vote for the proposed amendments they 
shall become part of the constitution. 
The general assembly shall not propose 
amendments to more than two articles of 
the constitution at the same session nor to 
the same section oftener than once in four 
years. 


duties. Before proceeding, the mem¬ 
bers shall take an oath to support the 
Constitution of the United States and 
the State of Illinois, and to faithfully 
discharge their duties as members of 
the convention. The qualification of 
members shall be the same as that of 
members of the Senate, and vacancies 
occurring shall be filled in the manner 
provided for filling vacancies in the 
General Assembly. Said convention 
shall meet within three months after 
such election and prepare such revision, 
alteration or amendments of the Con¬ 
stitution as shall be deemed necessary, 
which shall be submitted to the electors 
for their ratification or rejection at an 
election appointed by the convention 
for that purpose, not less than two or 
more than six months after the adjourn¬ 
ment thereof; and unless so submitted, 
and approved by a majority of the 
electors voting at the election, no such 
revision, alteration or amendments 
shall take effect. 

This section is a revision of Sec. 2, Art. 

XIV, constitution of 1870, which provides: 

Amendments to this Constitution 
may be proposed in either house of the 
General Assembly, and if the same shall 
be voted for by two-thirds of all the 
members elected to each of the two 
houses, such proposed amendments 
together with the ayes and nays of each 
house thereon, shall be entered in full 
on their respective journals, and said 
amendments shall be submitted to the 
electors of this State for adoption or 
rejection, at the next election of 
members of the General Assembly, in 
such manner as may be ’prescribed by 
law. The proposed amendments shall 
be published in full at least three months 
preceding the election, and if a majority 
of the electors voting at said election 
shall vote for the proposed amendments, 
they shall become a part of this Consti¬ 
tution. But the General Assembly 
shall have no power to propose amend¬ 
ments to more than one article of this 
Constitution at the same session nor to 
the same article oftener than once in 
four years. 




66 


SCHEDULE 

Note. The Schedule follows in double columns. Its purpose is to bridge over the 
gap between the old and the new constitution. 


That no inconvenience may arise from 
the alterations and amendments made to 
the constitution of this state and to carry 
them into effect it is hereby ordained and 
declared: 

Section 1 . All laws in force at the 
adoption of this constitution not incon¬ 
sistent therewith and all rights, actions, 
prosecutions, claims and contracts of this 
state or of individuals or of bodies corpo¬ 
rate shall continue to be as valid as if this 
constitution had not been adopted. An 
act entitled “An Act to Revise the Law 
in Relation to Banks and Banking” 
approved June twenty-third, nineteen 
hundred nineteen, shall continue in force 
unchanged until the first day of July, 
nineteen hundred twenty-five and there¬ 
after until revised, repealed or amended. 

Section 2. All fines, taxes, penalties 
and forfeitures due this state under the 
present constitution and laws shall inure 
to the people of this state under this con¬ 
stitution. 

Section 3. Recognizances, bonds, obli¬ 
gations and all other instruments entered 
into before the adoption of this constitu¬ 
tion to the people of this state or to any 
subdivision thereof or to any municipal 
corporation or to any public officer shall 
remain binding and valid. All crimes and 
misdemeanors shall be tried and punished 
as if no change had been made in the con¬ 
stitution of this state. 

Section 4. All persons now holding 
offices or appointments shall continue the 
exercise of the duties thereof according to 
their respective commissions or appoint¬ 
ments unless otherwise directed by this 
constitution or other law. 

Section 5. Except as otherwise pro¬ 
vided in this constitution and subject to 
such changes in their duties as are pre¬ 
scribed therein, all persons elected to office 
at the election in November, nineteen 
hundred twenty-two, shall continue in 
office during the terms for which they are 
respectively elected. 

Section 6. In order that elections may 
be held regularly in November it is hereby 
provided as follows: 


All officers elected to office prior to the 
election in November, nineteen hundred 
twenty-three, whose terms expire before 
that time shall hold office until their terms 
expire as now provided by law and at the 
expiration of their respective terms their 
successors shall be elected at that time to 
hold office during the regular terms pro¬ 
vided by law and until their successors are 
elected at the next ensuing November 
election. 

All officers elected to office prior to the 
election in November, nineteen hundred 
twenty-three, whose terms expire after 
that date and who are elected at other 
times than at the November election shall 
hold office for the terms for which they are 
elected and until their successors are 
elected at the next ensuing November 
election. 

This section shall not apply to or within 
the county of Cook. 

Section 7. The first apportionment for 
senators after the adoption of this con¬ 
stitution shall provide that three of the 
additional senators shall be elected at the 
first election for terms of two years and 
the other three additional senators for 
terms of four years. 

Section 8. On the day this constitution 
is submitted to the people for ratification 
an election shall be held for two justices 
of the supreme court in the seventh judi¬ 
cial district. Every person in that judicial 
district who is entitled to vote for this 
constitution shall be entitled to vote for 
such justices. The election shall other¬ 
wise be conducted, returns made and cer¬ 
tificates of election issued in accordance 
with existing laws. If it appears upon the 
canvassing of the votes for and against 
this constitution that this constitution is 
not adopted, then no certificates of elec¬ 
tion shall be issued for such justices. If 
they are elected and commissioned such 
justices shall hold office, one until the first 
Monday of June, nineteen hundred thirty- 
one and one until the first Monday of 
June, nineteen hundred thirty-three. 

Successors to the justices now in office 
shall be elected in the seventh district on 
the first Monday of June and in the other 


67 


districts on the first Tuesday after the first 
Monday of November in the years in 
which their respective terms expire. One 
justice for each of the first and third dis¬ 
tricts shall be elected for a term to expire 
on the first Tuesday after the first Monday 
of November, nineteen hundred thirty- 
three; one justice for the second district 
shall be elected for a^erm to expire on 
the first Tuesday after the first Monday 
of November, nineteen hundred thirty- 
five; one justice for the fourth district 
shall be elected for a term to expire on the 
first Tuesday after the first Monday of 
November, nineteen hundred thirty-nine; 
one justice for each of the fifth and sixth 
districts shall be elected for a term to 
expire on the first Tuesday after the first 
Monday of November, nineteen hundred 
thirty-seven; one justice for the seventh 
district shall be elected for a term to 
expire on the first Monday of June, nine¬ 
teen hundred thirty-five. 

Section 9. The clerk of the supreme 
court and the clerks of the appellate courts 
in office at the time of the adoption of this 
constitution shall continue to hold office 
during the terms for which they are respec¬ 
tively elected. 

Section 10. The judges of the circuit 
and superior courts of Cook county now 
serving as judges of the appellate court of 
the first district and its branches shall be¬ 
come judges of the appellate court of the 
first district under this constitution to hold 
office until January first, nineteen hundred 
twenty-nine. The judges of the appel¬ 
late court of the second district, the appel¬ 
late court of the third district and the 
appellate court of the fourth district under 
this constitution shall be appointed by the 
supreme court as soon as mav be after the 
adoption of this constitution to hold office 
until January first, nineteen hundred 
twenty-eight. 

Section 11. Until otherwise provided 
by law judges of the appellate court of the 
first district shall each receive the same 
salary as is paid a judge of the circuit court 
of Cook countv and judges of the appel¬ 
late courts of the second, third and fourth 
districts shall each receive a salary of 
eight thousand five hundred dollars per 
annum. Such salaries shall be payable 
in the same manner, at the same time and 
from the same sources as the salaries of 
judges of the circuit courts within such 
districts respectively. 

Section 12. On May seventh, nineteen 
hundred twenty-three, the circuit, supe¬ 
rior, criminal, county and probate courts 


of Cook county, the municipal court of 
Chicago and the city court of Chicago 
Heights shall be consolidated into one 
court to be known as the circuit court of 
Cook county and thereupon all such 
courts except that last mentioned shall be 
abolished. The offices of judge and clerk 
of the city court of Chicago Heights shall 
thereupon be abolished. 

Section 13. The judges of the circuit, 
superior, county and probate courts of 
Cook county and the chief justice of the 
municipal court of Chicago in office on 
May* seventh, nineteen hundred twenty - 
three (except the judges of the circuit and 
superior courts of Cook county made 
judges of the appellate court of the first 
district by the adoption of this constitu¬ 
tion whose offices as judges of the circuit 
and superior courts of Cook county there¬ 
by cease to exist) shall be judges of the 
circuit court of Cook county as thus con¬ 
solidated and shall continue to hold office 
during the terms for which they are respec¬ 
tively elected or appointed and until their 
successors are elected and qualified. The 
associate judges of the municipal court of 
Chicago in office on May seventh, nineteen 
hundred twenty-three, shall be associate 
judges of the circuit court of Cook county 
as thus consolidated and shall continue to 
hold office during the terms for which they 
are respectively elected or appointed and 
until the first Monday of June next follow¬ 
ing, respectively, when their respective 
offices as associate judges of that court 
shall be abolished. There shall be elected 
to the office of judge of the circuit court 
of Cook county for terms of six vea r s, 
except as he~einafte~ otherwise specifi¬ 
cally provided, on the first Monday of 
June of the yea-s following: In nineteen 
hundred twenty-three, nine judges as 
successors to the judges whose terms 
expire in that year; in nineteen hundred 
twenty-five, one judge as successor to the 
judge whose term expires in nineteen 
hundred twenty-four and one judge as 
successor to the judge whose term expires 
in nineteen hundred twenty-five, together 
with eight additional judges; in nineteen 
hundred twenty-seven, two judges as 
successors to the judges whose terms 
expire in the year nineteen hundred 
twenty-six, and seventeen judges as 
successors to the judges whose terms 
expire in the year nineteen hundred 
twenty-seven; in nineteen hundred 
twenty-seven, eight additional judges for 
terms of four years; and in nineteen hun¬ 
dred twenty-nine, four judges as succes¬ 
sors to the judges whose terms expire in 


V. 


G8 


the year nineteen hundred twenty-eight, 
nine judges as successors to the judges 
whose terms expire in the year nineteen 
hundred twenty-nine, together with eight 
additional judges, one of whom shall hold 
office for the term of two years. 

Section 14. Such associate judges of 
the circuit court of Cook county shall per¬ 
form such judicial duties as may be 
assigned to them in the classes of cases 
which would have been within the juris¬ 
diction of the criminal court of Cook 
county at the time of the adoption of this 
constitution and also in the classes of 
cases arising in the county of Cook which 
would have been within the jurisdiction 
of the municipal court of Chicago if they 
had arisen in the city of Chicago prior to 
the adoption of the constitution. During 
their respective terms of olfice as such 
associate judges they shall receive the 
salaries allowed them by the law T s in force 
on May first, nineteen hundred twenty- 
two, one-half of which shall be payable 
out of the state treasury and one-half out 
of the treasury of the county of Cook. 

Section 15. The judges of the circuit 
courts in each circuit (other than the 
county of Cook) in office at the time of 
the adoption of this constitution shall con¬ 
tinue to hold office during the terms for 
which they are elected or appointed and 
until their successors are elected and 
qualified. 

Section 16. The judge of the county 
court of Cook county in office at the time 
of the adoption of this constitution shall 
continue to exercise during his term of 
office or until otherwise provided by law 
the same control and supervision over all 
matters of election as now provided by 
law. The general assembly prior to July 
first, nineteen hundred twenty-five, shall 
provide that all such authority and super¬ 
vision shall devolve upon some elective 
county officer or officers. 

Section 17. On December third, nine¬ 
teen hundred twenty-three, the county 
and probate courts in each county (other 
than the county of Cook) where both 
exist shall be consolidated into one court 
to be known as the county court. 

Section 18. The judges of the county 
and probate courts (in counties other than 
the county of Cook) in office on December 
third, nineteen hundred twenty-three, 
shall be judges of the county court as thus 
consolidated, at wdfich time the office of 
judge of the probate court or probate 


judge shall be abolished. They shall hold 
office during the terms for which they 
were elected and until their successors are 
elected and qualified. Counties having a 
population of less than seventy-five thous¬ 
and, which have a county judge and a 
probate judge at the time of the adoption 
of this constitution, shall elect in nineteen 
hundred twenty-seven two county judges. 

Section 19. Unless the general assem¬ 
bly prior to December third, nineteen 
hundred twenty-three, fixes the salaries of 
county judges and probate judges (other 
than those of the county of Cook) who are 
made judges of the county courts as thus 
consolidated, the salaries of such judges 
after the date last mentioned and until 
otherwise provided by law shall be as fol¬ 
lows: The present salary of each judge 
shall be increased to two thousand five 
hundred dollars in counties having a popu¬ 
lation of fifteen thousand or less, to four 
thousand dollars in counties having a 
population of more than fifteen thousand 
and less than forty thousand and to five 
thousand dollars in counties having a 
population of forty thousand or more. 
Each county shall continue to pay the 
present salaries until the whole of such 
salaries becomes payable out of the state 
treasury as provided in this constitution. 
Until that time the increases of salaries 
provided herein shall be payable monthly 
out of the state treasury. The word pop¬ 
ulation as used in this section means the 
population as shown by the federal census 
of nineteen hundred twenty. 

Section 20. The provisions of section 
one hundred twenty-eight of this consti¬ 
tution so far as they affect the judges of 
county and probate courts (outside the 
county of Cook) shall not become effective 
until December third, nineteen hundred 
twenty-three, unless the general assembly 
provides that increased salaries be paid 
prior to that date. 

Section 21. The clerk of the circuit 
court of Cook county in office on May 
seventh, nineteen hundred twenty-three, 
shall be clerk of that court as consolidated 
by this schedule. The clerks of the 
superior, criminal, county and probate 
courts of Cook county and the clerk of the 
municipal court of Chicago on that date 
shall become associate clerks of the circuit 
court of Cook county to hold office for the 
terms for which they are respectively 
elected; and as near as may be they shall 
exercise the same powers (including those 
relating to the appointment and discharge 


69 


of employees and to the collection and dis¬ 
bursement of moneys), perform the same 
duties and receive the same salaries as on 
May seventh, nineteen hundred twenty- 
three. If a vacancy occurs in the office 
of derk of the circuit court of Cook county 
prior to the election in November, nine¬ 
teen hundred twenty-four, such vacancy 
shall be filled by a majority of the judges 
and associate judges of the circuit court 
of Cook county by appointing one of such 
associate clerks who shall hold office until 
the election in November, nineteen hun¬ 
dred twenty-four. 

Section 22. The circuit court of each 
county is hereby continued and on the 
first Monday of November, nineteen hun¬ 
dred twenty-seven, the circuit and city 
courts in each county (other than the 
county of Cook) where both courts exist 
shall be consolidated into one court to be 
known as the circuit court and thereupon 
the offices of judge and clerk of all such 
city courts shall be abolished. 

Section 23. The offices of justice of the 
peace and constable existing at the time 
of the adoption of this constitution shall 
be abolished from and after the election 
or appointment and qualification of jus¬ 
tices of the peace or constables in their 
respective districts, towns or portions of 
towns in accordance with the provisions 
of this constitution. 

Section 24. The clerk of the county 
court of each county (other than the 
county of Cook) in office on December 
third, nineteen hundred twenty-three, 
shall be clerk of the county court as con¬ 
solidated by this schedule and the clerk 
of the probate court of each county (other 
than the county of Cook) having a probate 
clerk shall become the chief deputy county 
clerk of such county court during the term 
for which he is elected and at the salary 
received by him at the time of the adoption 
of this constitution; and as near as may be 
he shall exercise the same powers (includ¬ 
ing those relating to the appointment and 
discharge of employees and to the collec¬ 
tion and disbursement of moneys) and 
perform the same duties as on December 
third, nineteen hundred twenty-three. At 
the expiration of the terms of office of the 
probate clerks in office on December third, 
nineteen hundred twenty-three, the office 
of probate clerk shall be abolished. 

Section 25. The bailiff of the municipal 
court of Chicago in office on May seventh, 
nineteen hundred twenty-three, shall be¬ 
come associate sheriff of the county of 


Cook and hold office during the term for 
which he is elected. After the date last 
mentioned and during his term he shall 
receive the same salary and have as near 
as may be the same powers, duties and re¬ 
sponsibilities as before that date, including 
the selection, appointment and removal 
of his employees and the collection and 
disbursement of moneys. 

Section 26. Each court into which by 
thp provisions of this constitution other 
courts are consolidated shall immediately 
upon such consolidation succeed to and 
assume jurisdiction of all causes, matters 
and proceedings then pending in all courts 
of which it is the successor, with full power 
and authority to dispose of them and to 
carry into execution or otherwise to give 
effect to all orders, judgments and decrees 
theretofore entered by the respective 
courts thus consolidated. 

Section 27. From and after May 
seventh, nineteen hundred twenty-three, 
and until otherwise provided by law, all 
matters of fees and costs connected with 
proceedings in the circuit court of Cook 
county shall be regulated by rules to be 
adopted by the supreme court. 

Section 28. All judicial circuits estab¬ 
lished by law at the adoption of this con¬ 
stitution shall be preserved until changed 
by law. 

Section 29. This constitution shall be 
submitted to the people of the State of 
Illinois for adoption or rejection at an 
election to be held on Tuesday, December 
twelfth, nineteen hundred twenty-two. 
The county clerks of the respective coun¬ 
ties of this state shall give notice between 
the first and tenth days of November, 
nineteen hundred twenty-two, in the man¬ 
ner required by law for notices of general 
elections that at such election this con¬ 
stitution will be submitted to the electors 
of this state for adoption or rejection. 

Section 30. Every person entitled to 
vote under the provisions of existing laws 
shall be entitled to vote for the adoption 
or rejection of this constitution and such 
persons shall vote by ballot. Such elec¬ 
tion shall be conducted and the returns 
thereof made according to the laws now 
in force regulating general elections. 

Section 31. The officers now required 
by law in the case of general elections to 
provide election supplies for each precinct 
or district shall provide in the manner now 
required by law for conducting general 


70 


'elections all necessary poll books, tally 
sheets, forms of return, ballots and sup¬ 
plies for such election. 

Section 32. The ballots to be used at 
such election shall be substantially in the 
following form: 


Proposed New Constitution Election 
Ballot 


SHALL THE 



PROPOSED NEW 

YES 


CONSTITUTION 



BE ADOPTED 

NO 



Section 33. The elector shall designate 
his vote by a cross mark thus, X, to be 
placed in one of the squares on the right- 
hand margin of the ballot. 

Section 34. The ballots cast for and 
against the adoption of this constitution 
shall be received and canvassed by the 
judges and clerks of such election and 
returned as provided by law for general 
elections. 


Section 35. Within fifteen days after 
such election, returns thereof shall be 
made by the several county clerks to the 
secretary of state which shall show (a) the 
aggregate number of electors voting in 
each county, (b) the aggregate number of 
votes cast for the adoption of this consti¬ 
tution and (c) the aggregate number of 
votes cast against the adoption of this 
constitution. Such returns shall within 
ten days thereafter be examined and can¬ 
vassed by the secretary of state, the attor¬ 
ney general, the state treasurer and the 
auditor of public accounts or any three of 
them in the presence of the governor and 
proclamation shall be made by the gover¬ 
nor forthwith of the result of the canvass. 
If it appears that a majority of the votes 
cast are for the adoption of the new 7 con¬ 
stitution it shall be the supreme law of the 
State of Illinois on and after tw 7 elve o - clock 
noon of Monday January fifteenth, nine¬ 
teen hundred twenty-three, and the exist¬ 
ing constitution shall thereupon cease in 
all its provisions. 


Done in convention at the capitol in the city of Springfield on the twelfth day of 
September in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred twenty-two, of the 
Independence of the United States of America the one hundred forty-seventh and of the 
statehood of Illinois the one hundred fourth. 

In witness w T hereof w’e have hereunto subscribed our names. 


B. H. McCann 

Secretary 


Edward E. Adams 
Stanley Adamkiewicz 
Percival G. Baldwin 
George A. Barr 
William H. Beckman 
Rodney H. Brandon 
John J. Brenholt 
Edw t ard H. Brewster 
Charles D.Cary 
Oscar E. Carlstrom 
B. L. Catron 
William H. Chew 
Elam L. Clarke 
E. B. Coolley 
Edw t ard Corlett 
William H. Cruden 
Abel Davis 
Rufus C. Dawes 
Frederic R. DeYoung 
Cyrus E. Dietz 
John L. Dryer 


Charles E. Woodward 

President 


Henry M. Dunlap 
George A. Dupuy 
Philip E. Elting 
Joseph W. F.ifer 
Thomas F. Frole 
Edgar E. Fyke 
George C. Gale 
William Ganschow 
Bruce H. Garrett 
Sylvester J. Gee 
G. Gale Gilbert 
A. F. Goodyear 
William S. Gray 
Henry I. Green 
Charles H. Hamill 
William T. Hollenbeck: 
Morton D. Hull 
Michael Iarussi 
Charles H. Ireland 
James P. Jack 
Lewis A. Jarman 







71 


Lawrence C. Johnson 

David E. Shanahan 

Watts A. Johnson 

Charles A. Shuey 

Thomas C. Kerrick 

Rollo Six 

Ernest Kunde 

Arthur M. Smith 

George P. Latchford 

Douglas Sutherland 

Herbert F. Lill 

Albert E. Taff 

Cicero J. Lindly 

Hiram E. Todd 

David E. Mack 

H. E. Torrance 

Willard M. McEwen 

William E. Trautmann 

Sylvester W. McGuire 

William A. Wall 

Charles J. Michal 

Alvin Warren 

Amos C. Miller 

Frank S. Whitman 

Andrew H. Mills 

Walter H. Wilson 

Charles B. T. Moore 

Oscar Wolff 

James Nichols 

Charles Woodward 

Martin J. O’Brien 

Henry W. Meinert 

James H. Paddock 

Charles S. Cutting 

Charles V. Parker 

John J. Gorman 

S. E. PlNCUS 

John E. Traeger 

B. H. PlNNELL 

Alexander H. Revell 

Frank J. Quinn 

George W. Hogan 

Thomas Rinaker 

Harry H. Stahl 

Michael Rosenberg 

William J. Sneed 

William M. Scanlan 


Note. Members of the constitutional convention who were not present to sign 
the enrolled document on September 12 may affix their signatures at any time before or 
on Tuesday, December 12, 1922, which is the date of the special election. 


LBRARY of 


co ngress 




I 

o 033 239 103 3 



:llixoi> printing co., Danville,, ill. 
K9800— 1M—9-22 


